The Price of investigating Trump: FBI agents face dismissal and retaliation

This marks the latest in a series of actions by Donald Trump’s administration aimed at removing individuals involved in investigations concerning him and his associates.

One of the dismissed agents, Jeremy Desor, drew public attention on social media after Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released over 1,000 pages of subpoenas connected to Smith’s probe into Trump’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Notably, none of those subpoenas mentioned the names of any FBI or Department of Justice personnel.

Another dismissed agent, Jamie Garman, had been placed on administrative leave several weeks earlier — shortly after Grassley published additional documents showing that Smith had sought cell phone data from eight Republican senators and one member of Congress in the days surrounding the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.

According to the five sources, two other agents — Blair Toolman and David Guest — who also worked on Smith’s team initially received termination notices but were later informed that their dismissals had been revoked.

Two additional sources confirmed that several other agents were also fired on Monday, but those decisions were subsequently reversed.

The report noted that criminal investigations often include the examination of mobile phone metadata, such as call durations and location data, though not the actual content of communications.

Since these investigations began, some U.S. senators — without providing evidence — have accused the FBI of spying on lawmakers, prompting Smith’s attorneys to issue a letter demanding corrections to the false claims made by legislators whose phone data had been subpoenaed.

Earlier, three other sources told Reuters that two additional FBI agents involved in reviewing lawmakers’ phone records had been dismissed in October, around the same time Jamie Garman was placed on leave.

Since January, when Donald Trump returned to power, dozens of FBI agents, investigators, and support staff who worked on Jack Smith’s investigative team or handled cases related to individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol attack have been dismissed by the Justice Department.

Jack Smith served as the special counsel in two major cases against Trump:

One accused Trump of illegally retaining classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021.

The other investigated Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results following the Capitol riot.

Neither case ever went to trial, and no verdict was issued against Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for actions taken during their time in office. Trump invoked this ruling, effectively closing both cases.

Trump, who has repeatedly denied all allegations, had declared during his presidential campaign that if elected, he would fire Jack Smith “within two seconds” of entering the White House. Smith, anticipating Trump’s return to office, resigned from his post shortly before that could happen.

Recently, a federal agency in the U.S. also opened a formal investigation into Jack Smith’s conduct during his tenure as special counsel.

The probe into Smith’s actions marks the latest step in Donald Trump’s broader campaign to retaliate against his political adversaries and those who previously investigated him.