The
Trump
administration
already
freed
everyone
jailed
over
the
January
6
MAGA-rally-turned-Mike-Pence-assassination-effort
and
has
turned
its
attention
to
purging
the
government
of
anyone
involved
in
prosecuting
the
“very
fine
people”
who
beat
Capitol
police
officers
with
blunt
instruments.
His
loyalists
began
by
firing
career
prosecutors
who
ran
those
cases
and
then
asked
the
FBI
to
turn
over
details
on
all
FBI
employees
who
worked
on
any
of
the
January
6
investigations.
That
turned
out
to
be
over
5000
employees.
For
reference,
the
FBI
boasts
around
38,000
employees,
so
Trump
is
apparently
looking
to
fire
13
percent
of
the
FBI.
Hopefully
this
trims
at
least
one
of
the
increasingly
redundant
CBS
FBI-colon
shows
(it
won’t).
Naturally,
some
of
these
FBI
employees
would
rather
not
be
put
on
a
government
enemies
list,
and
they’re
suing
the
Justice
Department
over
it.
The two lawsuits (so
far
anyway)
argue
that
handing
over
their
names
is
a
naked
prelude
to
a
rash
of
entirely
preordained
retaliatory
firings.
Helpfully,
Acting
Deputy
Attorney
General
Emil
Bove
sent
the
email
seeking
these
names
under
the
subject
line
“Terminations,”
in
case
you
expected
this
administration
to
avoid
a
boneheaded
paper
trail.
At
the
same
time,
the
FBI
Agents
Association,
which
represents
over
14,000
current
and
former
agents,
has
also
gone
to
Congress
asking
for
help,
which
is
like
depending
on
Wile
E.
Coyote
to
catch
tonight’s
dinner.
A
standard
that
federal
employees
are
better
off
refusing
orders
they
disagree
with
would
backfire
on
Trump
pretty
quickly.
Thankfully,
consistency
isn’t
the
goal
here.
Trump’s
real
goal
isn’t
just
to
fire
these
specific
employees
—
it’s
to
instill
fear
across
the
Bureau.
He’s
not
opposed
to
politically
motivated
investigations
—
obviously,
as
his
dingbat
U.S.
Attorney
is
trying
to
spin
Chuck
Schumer
as
issuing
death
threats
—
he
just
wants
a
police
force
that
understands
that
it
should
look
the
other
way
whenever
his
people
commit
crimes.
On
that
note,
anyone
who
worked
on
the
Epstein
files
might
want
to
dust
off
their
resume
just
in
case.
The
lawsuits
are
just
getting
started,
and
Congress
will
have
to
decide
if
it’s
willing
to
let
the
executive
branch
treat
the
FBI
like
its
personal
security
force.
Either
way,
we’re
about
to
see
whether
career
law
enforcement
officers
get
thrown
under
the
bus
just
for
following
the
evidence.
As
Fox
Mulder
would
say,
“The
Truth
is
Out
There”
but
in
the
modern
FBI
it’s
a
better
career
move
not
to
bother
looking.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
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Joe
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Managing
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