The FBI has fired agents who investigated President Donald Trump regarding his handling if classified documents.
The firings were revealed by people familiar with the matter Wednesday, per the Associated Press.
The firings are part of a personnel purge under the Director Kash Patel leadership.
Over the last year, Patel — a Trump appointee — has pushed out dozens of employees. There are employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were believed not to be in alignment with the administration’s agenda.
The Justice Department has done similar firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings, stating they were unlawful and endangering national security.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said in a statement.
The recent terminations included employees who helped investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The case involved a high-profile FBI search of the Florida property and resulted in a federal prosecution charging the now-president with holding onto top-secret records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
The Associated Press confirmed the firings by multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on anonymity because they could not publicly discuss the personnel moves.
Several of the sources said a total of 10 employees were fired; one said at least 10 were fired.
The FBI has also fired agents who participated in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
That investigation also led to criminal charges.
The election case was eventually abandoned after Trump won the presidential election in November 2024 because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
