Two former FBI agents say they were fired over their roles in the investigation into the Trump 2020 election

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two agents fired from the FBI last year said in a federal lawsuit Thursday that they were terminated “solely” because of their participation in an investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The two agents, identified as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 in the lawsuit, are part of a broader group of employees fired over the past year for their roles in the election investigation known as Arctic Frost. Their lawsuit is the latest in a series of court challenges against FBI Director Kash Patel’s purge that targeted agents who either contributed to investigations into the Republican president or were deemed outside the administration’s agenda.

Read more: AP Report: The FBI is firing agents who worked on the investigation into classified Trump documents

Clients say they were abruptly terminated last fall despite spotless disciplinary records and “exemplary” ratings in performance reviews. Both say they were given no explanation, but the terminations came shortly after Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who along with other Trump allies has asserted that Arctic Frost was politically motivated, released unredacted Justice Department documents related to the investigation that revealed the names of one of the agents.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, seeks reinstatement and a court declaration that the terminations were unlawful.

“Plaintiffs’ termination was unlawful because it was based on the perception that Plaintiffs were not political supporters of President Trump,” the lawsuit states. “President Trump’s political support is not a legal or appropriate requirement for the effective performance of prosecutors’ roles within the FBI. Accordingly, President Trump’s perceived lack of political support is an impermissible basis for the termination of prosecutors’ employment with the FBI.”

The FBI declined to comment.

One of the fired agents said in the lawsuit that he was about to go trick-or-treating with his children last Halloween when he was summoned to the FBI in Washington, where he worked, and given a termination notice. Days later, the other agent, described in the lawsuit as the sole or senior case agent in active local public corruption cases, was similarly subpoenaed and told he would also be fired.

“In Arctic Frost, as in all other investigations to which they were assigned, Plaintiffs fully complied with Department of Justice policies and procedures, including applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and carried out their law enforcement duties without bias or political motives,” the lawsuit says.

One of the two fired agents joined the FBI more than 20 years ago, specialized in white collar, public corruption and fraud cases and received a Medal of Distinction for his performance, the suit says. The other agent graduated from the FBI Academy in 2018 and, at the time of his dismissal, was working on public corruption cases and had briefed Patel directly on a particular investigation.

Agents were for a while assigned a supporting, rather than leading, role in investigating Trump’s efforts to remain in power after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Margaret Donovan, one of the clients’ attorneys, said in a statement that Patel had reneged on his promise not to fire clients based on the cases they were assigned. She said her clients “were among the office’s best clients, and they deserved better.” Another attorney, Elizabeth Tullis, added: “These agents did exactly what they were trained to do: they accepted a task from their supervisors and carried it out professionally and apolitically.”

Other fired employees who have sued include agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in 2020 and a group of senior officials, including the former acting FBI director, who were fired last summer. The dismissals continued, with Patel last month firing a group of agents in the Washington field office who were involved in the investigation into Trump’s keeping of secret documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida after his first term.

In testimony before a House committee on Thursday, Patel brushed off Democratic concerns that firing experienced counterintelligence agents in Iran could weaken national security at a time when the United States is at war with Tehran.

“There are 36,000 people working in this FBI,” Patel said. “And I strongly reject the idea that ending those who were using law enforcement as a weapon are the only ones who can do the job.”