I suspect they wanted to get this done before Kash Patel came in so his blatant lie about not seeking revenge wouldn’t be so clearly exposed in his first days. But it looks like it isn’t going to be so easy:
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll on Friday refused a Justice Department order that he assist in the firing of agents involved in Jan. 6 riot cases, pushing back so forcefully that some FBI officials feared he would be dismissed, multiple current and former FBI officials told NBC News.
The Justice Department ultimately did not dismiss Driscoll. He sent out a memo to the workforce Friday night explaining that he had been ordered to remove eight senior FBI executives and turn over the names of every FBI employee involved in Capitol riot cases.
The eight executives have been forced out but Driscoll did not say in the memo whether he would turn over the broader list of Jan. 6-related names — a list that he noted encompasses thousands of FBI employees, including him. “As we’ve said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always,” Driscoll, a former member of the FBI’s elite hostage rescue team, wrote.
In a message that circulated widely among bureau personnel, an FBI agent summarized what happened as: “Bottom line — DOJ came over and wanted to fire a bunch of J6 agents. Driscoll is an absolute stud. Held his ground and told WH proxy, DOJ, to F— Off.”
It looks like Patel is going to have to do Trump’s dirty work after all.
This is good. We need to see more resistance to what Trump is doing. The purging of vast numbers of federal personnel is bad in itself. Purging Trump’s enemies list which, in this case, includes people who were assigned to the January 6th cases and did their job, is authoritarianism 101.
Sadly, I just had yet another conversation with an acquaintance who told me that things really aren’t that bad. I asked if he was watching the news and he said he’s turned it off ever since the election and I wondered how he knows that nothing bad is happening. He said he hasn’t noticed any difference in his own life. I told him it is only a matter of time before it does and he should start paying attention because it’s very, very bad.
I freaked him out. But I think we need to start freaking out our neighbors and friends. Too many people are still tuning out politics, an impulse I understand, but they need to tune back in.
We all need to be Paul Revere right now.