Because they worked on the investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified records, nine former FBI employees have sued the bureau, saying they were fired only. The case is about the Mar-a-Lago documents probe led by former special counsel Jack Smith. Here’s what we know.
The lawsuit states: “Plaintiffs were unlawfully terminated not for any cause or any legitimate reason, but only to satisfy the President’s personal vendetta. The firings did not follow any internal investigation or disciplinary process within the FBI, and Plaintiffs were not given any notice, a hearing, or an opportunity to appeal. Instead, Patel claimed to rely solely upon ‘Article II’ to support the firings.”
They were fired over two days in February 2026, just as the United States and Israel were preparing to launch military strikes against Iran. The 70-page lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, according to CBS News.
The nine former employees include special agents, intelligence analysts and staff operations specialists who worked on counterintelligence investigations, according to CBS News . The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jennifer Bacon, Zach Feldman, Gilbert Granados, Catherine Herrera, Harrison Kaufman, Jeremy Linton, Erin Matanic, Danielle Ray and Rachel Vaccaro, according to The Hill . For example, Blanche, who was deputy attorney general when the employees were let go, said the administration had “cleaned house” at the FBI by firing employees linked to investigations involving the president. Jennifer Bacon, the head of the FBI’s counterintelligence section, learned she was being fired shortly after an agent named Miles Starr requested access to classified files related to the documents investigation, which was codenamed Plasmic Echo, according to CBS News. The lawsuit says Starr was part of FBI Director Kash Patel’s Director’s Advisory Team.
It names the FBI, FBI Director Kash Patel , Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department as defendants. The attorneys write: “An ‘Article II’ firing is an invention of the current Administration. Its invocation represents an attempt to convert all federal employees into political appointees and condition their continued employment on their (perceived) personal and political loyalty to President Trump. In reality, the ‘Article II’ rationale is nothing more than a pretext for firing like those of the Plaintiffs- that are politically retributive and unlawful. The suit uses public comments from top Justice Department officials and the president as proof of political motive.
