WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s No. 2 official accused FBI leaders Wednesday of “insubordination” in an ongoing investigation of the purported “weaponization” of the legal system during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said bureau brass “refused to comply” with an investigation that President Trump commissioned in a Day One executive order — forcing a broad records demand that critics said could lead to the firing of 4,000 FBI agents involved in cases surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“Multiple times during the week of Jan. 27, 2025, I asked the FBI’s acting leadership to identify the core team in Washington, D.C. responsible for the investigation relating to events on January 6, 2021,” Bove wrote in a letter first reported by Fox News and confirmed by The Post.
“The purpose of the requests was to permit the Justice Department to conduct a review of those particular agents’ conduct pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order concerning weaponization in the prior administration.
“FBI acting leadership refused to comply,” Bove continued. “That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021.”
Bove wrote that “[i]n light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order.
“The memo stated unambiguously, and I stand by these words, that the information requested was intended to ‘commence a review process’ that will be used to ‘determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.’”
Bove, who runs day-to-day operations at the FBI’s parent agency and who will relinquish his position when and if the Senate confirms Todd Blanche, promised that rank-and-file workers won’t be disciplined except in specific instances of misconduct.
“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties,” he wrote in the letter.
“The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.”
“There is no honor,” Bove stated, “in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day. If you have witnessed such behavior, I encourage you to report it through the appropriate channels.”
FBI agents are suing to prevent the potential public release of their information, which ultimately was provided by the bureau to the Justice Department.
The FBI, currently led by acting Director Brian Driscoll after the recent resignation of Christopher Wray, is expected to experience a culture shock if Trump’s nominee for director, Kash Patel, is confirmed by the Senate as expected.
Trump has accused the FBI of political bias against him and his supporters — including by raiding his Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022 to recover national security documents and then working to stand up a pair of unprecedented criminal prosecutions against him for allegedly mishandling the records and for attempting to remain in power following his 2020 election loss.
The newly sworn-in 47th president on Jan. 20 issued an executive order accusing Biden’s administration of waging “an unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.”
Trump’s order says the law enforcement bureaucracy “targeted individuals who voiced opposition to the prior administration’s policies with numerous Federal investigations and politically motivated funding revocations, which cost Americans access to needed services. The Department of Justice even jailed an individual for posting a political meme. And while the Department of Justice has ruthlessly prosecuted more than 1,500 individuals associated with January 6, and simultaneously dropped nearly all cases against BLM rioters.”
That order requires the Justice Department to “review the activities of all departments and agencies exercising civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States … over the last 4 years and identify any instances where a department’s or agency’s conduct appears to have been contrary to the purposes and policies of this order, and prepare a report to be submitted to the President.”
