October 7, 2025

FBI Director Patel fired three career agents who worked on Jack Smith's 2020-election investigation, citing no cause

Between October 7 and November 4, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel fired three career FBI agents — Michelle Ball, Jamie Garman, and Blaire Toleman, each with eight to fourteen years of service — who had previously been assigned to support Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Their termination letters accused them of "weaponizing" their positions but cited no specific misconduct finding and gave them no opportunity to respond. The firings were part of a broader purge of FBI personnel perceived as having worked against Trump's interests.

Jurisdiction: Federal
Location: Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On October 7, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel fired career agent Michelle Ball without notice of any charges or an opportunity to respond, timing her termination to coincide with Attorney General Pamela Bondi's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Patel fired fellow agent Jamie Garman on October 31, and after briefly informing Blaire Toleman of her removal on November 3 and retracting it hours later, fired her again the next day. All three had eight to fourteen years of FBI service and had been assigned to a Washington Field Office public-corruption squad that provided investigative support to Special Counsel Jack Smith's inquiry into Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Their termination letters, signed by Patel, accused them of "weaponizing" their positions — a characterization the agents call false and defamatory — without citing any specific misconduct finding. Before 2025, FBI policy required an investigation and a substantiated finding of misconduct before a career agent's summary removal; the agents' complaint alleges Patel and Bondi instead used the Director's summary-termination authority to purge personnel perceived as disloyal, contrary to the FBI's traditionally apolitical career workforce.

On March 31, 2026, Ball, Garman, and Toleman filed a 48-page class-action complaint against Patel and Bondi in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging the firings were part of a "retribution campaign" and citing Trump's stated expectation that "top officials in federal law enforcement" would "carry out his retribution." The complaint seeks to represent a broader class of FBI employees terminated since January 2025 for perceived political disloyalty.

Updates

2026-06-18 — Patel, Bondi moved to dismiss fired agents' lawsuit [4]

Patel, Bondi, the FBI, and the Justice Department moved to dismiss the agents' complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim; the agents opposed the motion on July 28, 2026, and it remained pending before Judge Jia Cobb as of this update.

2026-08-04 — Five amicus briefs backed fired agents' lawsuit against Patel, Bondi [3]

Five outside parties — the FBI Agents Association (nearly 12,000 members), a group of former Justice Department officials, First Amendment scholars, Lawyers for the Rule of Law, and the DOJ-alumni network Justice Connection — filed amicus briefs within one week supporting the fired agents' legal position against Patel and Bondi.

Why we recorded this

The FBI's independence from partisan control depends on career law-enforcement officers being able to accept lawful investigative assignments without fear that a change in political leadership will cost them their jobs. Patel fired three agents who had done exactly that — supporting a court-authorized investigation into Trump — without any misconduct finding, notice, or a chance to respond, in what the fired agents' complaint frames as a directed "retribution campaign." Using the Director's personnel authority to punish agents for the outcome of a lawful assignment converts the bureau's disciplinary process into a tool for political loyalty rather than professional conduct.

Sources

Class Action Complaint — Ball et al. v. Patel et al. — Ball et al. v. Patel et al., No. 1:26-cv-01086 (D.D.C.) primary accessed August 5, 2026
FBI agents who investigated Trump file lawsuit alleging retaliatory firing — Al Jazeera secondary accessed August 5, 2026
3 FBI agents fired over Trump investigation get broad backing in lawsuit against administration — PBS NewsHour / Associated Press investigative accessed August 5, 2026
Docket, Garman et al. v. Patel et al., No. 1:26-cv-01086 (D.D.C.) — U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (via CourtListener) primary accessed August 5, 2026