Thousands of FBI agents and employees are being asked by Justice Department leadership to fill out a 12-question survey detailing their roles in investigations stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The questionnaire is contributing to a mounting sense of anxiety inside the bureau, as leaders and agents brace for a potential purge of those deemed disloyal to President Donald Trump and his new administration. It has prompted resistance from leaders of some of the bureau’s nationwide field offices, some of whom have urged subordinates not to fill out the questionnaire and let higher-ranking officials handle the fallout.
FBI Questionnaire Details
The questionnaire, which is due by 3 p.m. Monday, asks agents and FBI officials to detail their rank, whether they participated in Jan. 6 investigations and in what capacity. It includes drop-down menus that inquire whether they handled arrests, led operations, testified in trials or were assigned as case agents to the roughly 1,600 defendants who were charged, according to a person who read portions of the message to POLITICO.
The questionnaire also asks whether the officials participated in surveillance, discovery efforts, grand jury proceedings, witness interviews or subpoena review. It also asks if they followed up on leads sent from other field offices and performed other administrative tasks related to the cases.
Internal Resistance and Pushback
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll notified the workforce on Friday that the acting No. 2 at the Justice Department, Emil Bove, gave the FBI a deadline of noon Tuesday to provide a roster of employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases and on a Hamas-related investigation.
The anxiety gripping the FBI’s ranks comes amid a similar shakeup inside the Justice Department, including the firing of roughly 30 prosecutors who handled Jan. 6 cases and more than a dozen connected to former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump.
A lawyer representing several FBI employees said several heads of FBI field offices — most of whom hold the title of special agent in charge — are pushing back against the latest inquiries.
The FBI Agents Association's Response
The FBI Agents Association contacted members over the weekend about the questionnaire, urging them to consult with their supervisors and to include suggested language describing the abrupt demands from DOJ leadership without being afforded appropriate time.
Trump shocked both allies and adversaries when he issued a blanket pardon for all convicted Jan. 6 rioters — even those who bludgeoned police — and commuted sentences for Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy. But the emphasis on rooting out Jan. 6 prosecutors and identifying FBI agents who worked on their cases suggests Trump intends to continue efforts to erase the government’s involvement in efforts to punish the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.