
Nine former FBI agents who worked on the investigation into Donald Trump's withholding of classified documents have filed a lawsuit against Kash Patel and Justice Minister Todd Blanche, claiming they were illegally fired in February 2026 for political reasons and demanding their reinstatement.
AI-generated summary
After the election of Donald Trump in November 2024, the special prosecutor in charge of federal proceedings against the ex-president was forced to abandon investigations, including one for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House in 2021. Nine FBI agents who worked on this file were fired without notice by Kash Patel in February 2026.
Nine former FBI agents who participated in the investigation into the retention of classified documents by Donald Trump and abruptly dismissed by the director of the American federal police, Kash Patel, filed a lawsuit on Thursday.
After the new election of Donald Trump in November 2024, the special prosecutor in charge of the two federal proceedings against the ex-president, including one for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House in 2021, was forced to abandon them. Nine FBI agents who worked on this file and dismissed without notice by Mr. Patel in February 2026 are asking the courts to declare their dismissal illegal and order their reinstatement.
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More than 100 years of combined experience
Combining more than 100 years of seniority at the FBI, they were assigned to this investigation because of their specific skills and carried out this mission in an “apolitical” manner, and “with the utmost professionalism,” according to their complaint. Some worked on the case of the attack against the Boston marathon in 2013, others on that of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in July 2024, it is specified. “But any FBI employee associated with the court-ordered search of Mar-a-Lago (the residence of Donald Trump in Florida, in 2022) was condemned after the second inauguration of President Trump” in January 2025, estimates the complaint, recalling the comments of the person concerned and his entourage.
These nine FBI agents “were illegally fired not for any fault or legitimate reason, but solely to satisfy the president's personal vendetta,” they claim in this complaint targeting Mr. Patel and the Minister of Justice, Todd Blanche. They accuse MM. Trump, Patel, Blanche and other figures in the president's entourage for having, “before and after their dismissal”, called into question their integrity, in particular by describing their work as “motivated by political reasons, when it was not”. Kash Patel, accused by his detractors of leading a “purge” within the FBI on behalf of Donald Trump, is currently the target of several complaints from agents and senior officials contesting their summary dismissal.
In September 2025, three senior FBI officials claimed in their complaint that they had been sanctioned for their “refusal to politicize the FBI”, in particular by opposing the dismissals of agents demanded by the director. Donald Trump has systematically attributed the criminal proceedings against him to an “instrumentalization of justice” by the Democratic administration of his predecessor Joe Biden.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The federal court seized by the nine FBI agents will make a preliminary decision on the legality of their dismissal in the coming months.
Likely · Within months
New testimonies or complaints from fired FBI agents will emerge in the coming weeks.
Possible · Within weeks

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