The US justice department has reached settlements with 10 current and former FBI agents who said they were unfairly disciplined for expressing political or personal views, resisting Covid-19 vaccine mandates, or raising concerns about the bureau’s handling of the Jan 6 Capitol riot investigations , their lawyers announced Tuesday.
Empower Oversight , a legal nonprofit led by former staffers of Republican Sen Chuck Grassley, said the resolutions cover 10 cases, with eight agreements finalised in recent weeks.
Three agents are being reinstated at the FBI, while others will be allowed to retire voluntarily or receive back pay and restored benefits, the group said.
According to news agency AP, some of the agents had accused the bureau under President Joe Biden’s administration of politicisation, a claim FBI leadership denied. One agent attended Donald Trump’s Jan 6 rally at the Ellipse and later went to the Capitol, though lawyers stressed he was not involved in violence.
Others clashed with supervisors over investigative tactics or vaccine rules.
Among those reinstated are Steve Friend, who said he was suspended after refusing to join a SWAT team arrest of a Jan. 6 suspect, and Garret O’Boyle, who complained to Congress about the FBI’s approach to those probes. Zachery Schoffstall , another reinstated agent, alleged that exculpatory evidence was omitted from an affidavit in a white nationalist case.
As reported by the New York Post, other whistleblowers included Monica Shillingburg, who raised alarms about gun background check procedures; Michael Zummer, who disclosed prosecutorial misconduct in a plea deal involving a district attorney accused of sex crimes; and unnamed employees who alleged mismanagement or retaliation.
Empower Oversight said the settlements include lump sum payments for damages, with several also involving back pay and benefits.
Grassley welcomed the outcome, saying in a statement quoted by the New York Post, “Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right.” He praised attorney general Pam Bondi, deputy AG Todd Blanche, FBI director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino for finalising the agreements.
The settlements come as the FBI faces internal upheaval under Patel, who has reassigned or dismissed several senior executives, including the bureau’s former acting director and the head of its Washington field office, both of whom played key roles in Jan 6 investigations, AP reported.
The FBI Agents Association has warned that such removals lacked due process.
As per The New York Post, Empower Oversight leaders Jason Foster and Tristan Leavitt cautioned that more work remains, writing in a letter that “for each of these cases where whistleblowers finally received some measure of justice, there are many more who still need a remedy.”
Empower Oversight , a legal nonprofit led by former staffers of Republican Sen Chuck Grassley, said the resolutions cover 10 cases, with eight agreements finalised in recent weeks.
Three agents are being reinstated at the FBI, while others will be allowed to retire voluntarily or receive back pay and restored benefits, the group said.
According to news agency AP, some of the agents had accused the bureau under President Joe Biden’s administration of politicisation, a claim FBI leadership denied. One agent attended Donald Trump’s Jan 6 rally at the Ellipse and later went to the Capitol, though lawyers stressed he was not involved in violence.
Others clashed with supervisors over investigative tactics or vaccine rules.
Among those reinstated are Steve Friend, who said he was suspended after refusing to join a SWAT team arrest of a Jan. 6 suspect, and Garret O’Boyle, who complained to Congress about the FBI’s approach to those probes. Zachery Schoffstall , another reinstated agent, alleged that exculpatory evidence was omitted from an affidavit in a white nationalist case.
As reported by the New York Post, other whistleblowers included Monica Shillingburg, who raised alarms about gun background check procedures; Michael Zummer, who disclosed prosecutorial misconduct in a plea deal involving a district attorney accused of sex crimes; and unnamed employees who alleged mismanagement or retaliation.
Empower Oversight said the settlements include lump sum payments for damages, with several also involving back pay and benefits.
Grassley welcomed the outcome, saying in a statement quoted by the New York Post, “Their lives were upended for years, but I never stopped fighting until things were made right.” He praised attorney general Pam Bondi, deputy AG Todd Blanche, FBI director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino for finalising the agreements.
The settlements come as the FBI faces internal upheaval under Patel, who has reassigned or dismissed several senior executives, including the bureau’s former acting director and the head of its Washington field office, both of whom played key roles in Jan 6 investigations, AP reported.
The FBI Agents Association has warned that such removals lacked due process.
As per The New York Post, Empower Oversight leaders Jason Foster and Tristan Leavitt cautioned that more work remains, writing in a letter that “for each of these cases where whistleblowers finally received some measure of justice, there are many more who still need a remedy.”
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