Three former FBI agents on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over accusations they were unlawfully terminated from the agency.
Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman, and Michelle Ball filed the lawsuit in the D.C. U.S. District Court against Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. The former agents claimed they were among roughly 50 individuals who had been illegally fired in a “retribution campaign” due to their investigations into President Donald Trump and other Republicans. They alleged they were fired without any due process, because of “the basis of their perceived political affiliation.”
Patel and Bondi “have, since the beginning of 2025, embarked on a public campaign to oust Plaintiffs from federal service because Defendants perceived them to be political opponents—as if fidelity to the law and the proper execution of assignments were somehow hostile partisan acts,” the complaint alleges.
The Trump administration has, in the past, used the exact reasoning to criticize members of the Department of Justice and the FBI over concerns that the agencies weaponized partisan investigations against Republicans for political purposes.
The administration and GOP leaders in Congress have expressed particular concern about the Biden-era Arctic Frost investigation, carried out by then-Special Counsel Jack Smith in conjunction with former FBI Director Christopher Wray. The Arctic Frost investigation was connected to the Biden administration’s probe into allegations that Trump illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election through Jan. 6.
Smith and Wray have faced intense heat for obtaining subpoenas that allowed them to secretly examine the phone records of at least 20 sitting and former Republican lawmakers, including at least 10 sitting U.S. senators, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The findings sparked an investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is led by Grassley.
The fired FBI agents who worked on the Arctic Frost investigations and other probes into Trump are now alleging their terminations were politically weaponized by the Trump administration. The agents had between eight and 14 years of “exemplary and unblemished” service in the FBI before they were abruptly fired, the complaint reads.
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The plaintiffs say their First Amendment rights, as well as their Fifth Amendment rights to due process, were violated.
Bondi and Patel’s actions “constitute improper acts of political retribution, in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” they alleged in the complaint.