Just getting more and more crazy....

Top Justice Department official accuses FBI leadership of ‘insubordination’ over January 6 inquiry

By Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz

The acting deputy attorney general accused FBI leadership of “insubordination” by refusing to identify a “core team” of bureau employees who worked on January 6 investigations, while trying to assure that rank-and-file agents who “simply followed orders” will not be fired unless they “acted with corrupt or partisan intent,” according to a copy of a memo obtained by CNN.

The memo emailed on Wednesday from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove is the first time that the Justice Department has indicated that the thousands of agents who worked on January 6-related investigations will not be fired en masse.

However, Bove does not rule out that some could still face consequences, including termination or other penalties.

“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties,” the email reads.

“The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI,” Bove added.

Last week, Bove sent a memo to the FBI instructing them to provide the information about all current and former bureau employees who “at any time” worked on January 6 investigations. The message quickly became a point of contention and sparked two lawsuits that aimed to stop the Justice Department from collecting or releasing any of the information they gathered.

Bove addressed the controversy in his email Wednesday, saying, “There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day.”

n describing how the memo last week came about, Bove said that he asked FBI leadership “multiple times” to identify a “core team” of bureau employees who had worked on January 6 investigations because the Justice Department wanted to conduct a narrow review of their work.

But, he said, FBI acting leadership refused to comply, and led the Justice Department to request a sweeping set information from all current and former agents or employees who touched Capitol riot investigations.

“That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021,” Bove says in the email. “In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order.”