Nine former FBI employees have sued the bureau, FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department over their February 2026 firings. The plaintiffs say they were dismissed because they worked on Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified records, and allege they received no notice, hearing or chance to appeal. The lawsuit describes a request for access to the investigation’s files shortly before the firings and cites public remarks by administration officials. The criminal case against Trump was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Smith had been unlawfully appointed special counsel, and the Justice Department dropped its appeal after Trump won the 2024 election. The government’s response to the new lawsuit is not included in the available account.
TLDR: Nine former FBI employees allege their February firings were tied to their work on the classified-records investigation, and say they had no notice, hearing or appeal. Their lawsuit names the bureau and senior Justice Department officials; no response or court schedule is included in the account.
Nine former FBI employees have sued the bureau and senior Justice Department officials, alleging they were unlawfully fired because of their work on an investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified records. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges the employees’ February dismissals and seeks to make their claims part of a federal court case.
The plaintiffs include former special agents, intelligence analysts and staff operations specialists. They say their work involved counterintelligence matters connected to the investigation led by Jack Smith, the former special counsel. Their 70-page complaint describes the firings as a consequence of that work. The filing says they received no notice, hearing or chance to appeal before losing their jobs.
The complaint is the employees’ account of what happened. The available account does not include a response from the FBI or the Justice Department, and it does not provide a timetable for the case. The lawsuit’s allegations have not been established in court. The filing asks a judge to consider whether the dismissals were lawful and whether the plaintiffs’ rights were violated.
The case concerns the employees’ treatment, not a new criminal charge against Trump. The underlying criminal case focused on his retention of classified records after leaving office. Smith’s investigation examined that matter. The new lawsuit says the former employees were fired for taking part in the work, but the available details do not specify each person’s role or describe the evidence the government relied on in making the employment decisions.
The complaint also describes an FBI agent’s request for access to case files shortly before the employees were fired. It does not, in the available account, explain what the agent sought to do with the files or establish a connection between that request and the decision to dismiss the employees. The timing is included in the plaintiffs’ account, but a court would have to assess its meaning alongside other evidence.
The criminal case against Trump ended separately. A judge ruled that Smith had been unlawfully appointed special counsel, and the case was dismissed. The Justice Department later dropped its appeal after Trump won the 2024 election. Those events provide context for the investigation named in the employees’ complaint, but they do not decide whether the firings were lawful. The employment lawsuit raises a different question about the reasons for the dismissals and the process followed.
The plaintiffs’ account says they were given no notice, hearing or opportunity to appeal. The complaint therefore places the process used in their firings at the center of their challenge, along with their claim that their work on the Trump records investigation was the reason they lost their jobs. The available filing summary does not spell out what remedy they are seeking or give details about any internal review that may have occurred.
The suit names the bureau and senior Justice Department officials as defendants. The available account does not identify those officials by name or describe the specific legal claims against each defendant. It also does not state whether the employees are seeking to return to their jobs, compensation or another form of relief. Those details matter because a judge would need to consider the claims and requested remedies as the case proceeds.
A lawsuit filing begins a legal dispute; it does not resolve one. The defendants may respond to the allegations, and the court may address which claims can move forward. No schedule for those steps was available in the account of the filing. Until the parties present their positions and the court rules, the complaint remains one side’s description of the events.
The case may bring further detail about how the dismissals were decided and what role the employees’ investigative work played. At this stage, however, the public account is limited. It identifies the plaintiffs’ former jobs, their connection to counterintelligence work, the timing of their firings and the central allegation in their complaint. It does not provide the FBI’s or Justice Department’s explanation, the employees’ individual records or a response from the officials named in the suit.
For now, the former employees are asking a federal court in Washington to hear their challenge. Their case follows the closure of the criminal records case, but it is not an appeal of that case and does not reopen the charges against Trump. It will instead address the employment dispute described in the 70-page complaint: whether the nine people were lawfully dismissed and whether the process and stated reasons for those decisions withstand legal review.
Rachel Vaughn serves as a Senior Correspondent for Just Right News, where she leads the network’s coverage of Global Health, Climate, and Development. With a career defined by intellectual rigor and a commitment to principled reporting, Rachel provides a vital conservative perspective on some of the most complex and high-stakes issues facing the world today. Her work is characterized by a refusal to accept bureaucratic narratives at face value, focusing instead on how international policies impact national sovereignty, individual liberty, and the American taxpayer.
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