The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly fired up to 10 agents who were working on an investigation into President Donald Trump’s withholding of some classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The agents, who were fired by the investigative agency, were working on the investigation of former special counsel Jack Smith, as several US media reports mentioned.
The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Florida mansion in 2022 while he was out of office as part of an investigation into the withholding of classified documents after he left the White House at the end of his first term. The investigation has now been dropped.
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the firing of up to 10 agents for their work on the case, multiple US media reported. The investigative agency has not yet commented on the firing of the agents.
What was the investigation?
After leaving the White House, Donald Trump reportedly kept unsecured classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home and thwarted efforts to retrieve them.
According to prosecutors, they contained Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) records of classified nuclear and defense documents.
In July 2024, US District Judge Aileen Cannon, an appointee of Donald Trump, dismissed the document withholding case against him. He also ruled that Jack Smith, who led the investigation, had been appointed illegally.
The Justice Department appealed Aileen Cannon’s decision, but dropped the case after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the FBI Agents Association confirmed that some agents were indeed fired. She also condemned the shooting, saying it violated the “due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect” the United States.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by removing critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining confidence in leadership and threatening the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said. Also read | “I don’t want anyone looking through my boxes,” says Donald Trump’s indictment
Along with those involved in the investigation into the illegal retention of classified documents, the FBI also reportedly fired some agents who were part of another investigation into Donald Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
That investigation also led to criminal charges, but like the Mar-a-Lago case, it was abandoned by special counsel Jack Smith after Trump won the White House in November 2024 due to longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be impeached.
Reports said the firing came on the same day that Kash Patel alleged that authorities obtained his phone records related to the Trump investigation under the Biden administration when he was not leading the agency.
