FBI Director Kash Patel has carried out another purge of the bureau’s senior ranks, forcing out field office leaders and other senior agents connected to the two criminal investigations of Donald Trump, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
The special agent in charge in Atlanta has been removed, as has the acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office, two people familiar with the matter said. A former special agent in charge in New Orleans who had recently moved on to another job was also ousted.
As many as six agents in Miami were forced out over their connection to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort where he stored classified documents, two people said. And other agents pushed out were involved in the “Arctic Frost” investigation of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The exact number of departures was unclear. An FBI spokesperson did not respond to questions.
That kind of turnover is unheard of at the FBI, which has a long tradition of being an independent law enforcement agency staffed by nonpolitical civil servants.
The news of the oustings came days after Patel and his aides told a conservative news outlet that they were committed to removing anyone from the FBI who had been involved in authorizing payments to confidential sources involved in identifying people who had rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
