Latest news with #StevenJensen
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former FBI official who worked with fired Acting Director speaks out on sudden dismissal
The FBI issued a series of sudden dismissals Friday with former Acting Director Brian Driscoll and FBI Washington field office head Steven Jensen as the most high profile firings. Former FBI Hostage Negotiation Team member and MSNBC national security and intelligence analyst Rob D'Amico, who worked alongside Driscoll, joins Alex Witt to share his insight on the matter.
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
FBI removes two top officials amid Capitol riot probe controversy
Brian Driscoll, the bureau's former acting director, and Steven Jensen, who's been leading the Washington Field Office since April, were instructed to leave Bloomberg The Federal Bureau of Investigation is ousting two senior officials who've been ensnared in controversies related to the agency's investigations of the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol riot, marking the most significant leadership shake-up since Kash Patel took over as director. Brian Driscoll, the bureau's former acting director, and Steven Jensen, who's been leading the Washington Field Office since April, were instructed to leave, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. The removals follow months of scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who have called for a full accounting of the bureau's handling of politically sensitive cases tied to the attack on the Capitol. Driscoll led the bureau temporarily ahead of Patel's confirmation in February. He was briefly in the spotlight after the administration demanded the FBI compile a list of staff who worked on investigations or prosecutions related to the Capitol riot. Jensen previously served as section chief of the domestic terrorism operations section, according to an FBI press release in April announcing his ascent to assistant director in charge of the Washington office. The removals come as the Trump administration steps up its effort to restructure the Justice Department and federal law enforcement. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a series of internal directives targeting what she called 'unethical prosecutions' tied to Jan 6. The FBI Agents Association said in a statement it is 'deeply concerned' by the report that the agents 'are going to be summarily fired without due process for doing their jobs investigating potential federal crimes.' 'Agents are not given the option to pick and choose their cases, and these Agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity,' the nonprofit association said. 'Most importantly, they followed the law.'
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
FBI Ousting Two Officials Ensnared in Jan. 6 Riot Probe Fallout
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is ousting two senior officials who've been ensnared in controversies related to the agency's investigations of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, marking the most significant leadership shake-up since Kash Patel took over as director. Brian Driscoll, the bureau's former acting director, and Steven Jensen, who's been leading the Washington Field Office since April, were instructed to leave, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Several senior FBI leaders ousted without explanation, sources say
Several top FBI officials were ousted from their jobs this week, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News, including the former acting director of the bureau who previously resisted efforts to compile a list of agents who worked on the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Sources tell ABC News that among those informed of their terminations are former acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the Washington, D.C. Field office Steven Jensen, and agents Walter Giardina and Christopher Meyer. It does not appear that any were informed of the rationale behind their terminations, the sources said. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
FBI ousts more leaders, including ex-director who resisted Trump's demand for Jan. 6 agents' names
The seal of The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen on the Headquarters in Washington, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) WASHINGTON — The FBI is forcing out more senior officials, including a former acting director who resisted Trump administration demands to turn over the names of agents who participated in Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigations and the head of the bureau's Washington field office, according to people familiar with the matter and internal communications seen by The Associated Press. The basis for the ouster of Brian Driscoll, who led the bureau in the turbulent weeks that followed U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration last January, were not immediately clear, but his final day is Friday, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the personnel move by name and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. 'I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I have no answers,' Driscoll wrote in a message to colleagues. 'No cause has been articulated at this time.' Another high-profile termination is Steven Jensen, who for months had led the Washington office, one of the bureau's largest and busiest. He confirmed in a message to colleagues on Thursday he had been told he was being fired effective Friday. 'I intend to meet this challenge like any other I have faced in this organization, with professionalism, integrity and dignity,' Jensen wrote in an email. Jensen did not say if he had been given a reason, but his appointment to the job in April was sharply criticized by some Trump supporters because he had overseen a domestic terrorism section after the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The FBI has characterized that attack, in which the Republican president's supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of election results after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, as an act of domestic terrorism. Spokespeople for the FBI declined to comment Thursday. A broader personnel purge The news about Driscoll and Jensen comes amid a much broader personnel purge that has unfolded over the last several months under the leadership of FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Numerous senior officials including top agents in charge of big-city field offices have been pushed out of their jobs, and some agents have been subjected to polygraph exams, moves that former officials say have roiled the workforce and contributed to angst. Driscoll, a veteran agent who worked international counterterrorism investigations in New York and had commanded the bureau's Hostage Rescue Team, had most recently served as acting director in charge of the Critical Incident Response Group, which deploys resources to crisis situations. Driscoll was named acting director in January to replace Christopher Wray and served in the position as Patel's nomination was pending. He made headlines after he and Rob Kissane, the then-deputy director, resisted Trump administration demands for a list of agents who participated in investigations into the Jan. 6 riot. Many within the FBI had seen that request as a precursor for mass firings, particularly in light of separate moves to fire members of special counsel Jack Smith's team that prosecuted Trump, reassign senior career Justice Department officials and force out prosecutors on Jan. 6 cases and top FBI executives. The Justice Department's request Emil Bove, the then-senior Justice Department official who made the request and was last week confirmed for a seat on a federal appeals court, wrote a memo at the time accusing the FBI's top leaders of 'insubordination' for resisting his requests 'to identify the core team' responsible for Jan. 6 investigations. He said the requests were meant to 'permit the Justice Department to conduct a review of those particular agents' conduct pursuant to Trump's executive order' on 'weaponization' in the Biden administration. Responding to Bove's request, the FBI ultimately provided personnel details about several thousand employees, identifying them by unique employee numbers rather than by names. In his farewell note, Driscoll told colleagues that it was 'the honor of my life to serve alongside each of you.' He wrote: 'Our collective sacrifice for those we serve is, and will always be, worth it. I regret nothing. You are my heroes and I remain in your debt.' Agents demoted, reassigned and pushed out The FBI has moved under Patel's watch to aggressively demote, reassign or push out agents seen as being out of favor with bureau leadership or the Trump administration. In April, for instance, the bureau reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, two people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Numerous special agents in charge of field offices have been told to retire, resign or accept reassignment. Another agent, Michael Feinberg, has said publicly that he was told to resign or accept a demotion amid scrutiny from leadership of his friendship with Peter Strzok, a lead agent on the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation who was fired by the Justice Department in 2018 following revelations that he had exchanged negative text messages about Trump with an FBI lawyer, Lisa Page. Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
