Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, as President Trump looks on. (AP Photo/Manuel Ceneta).
The lawsuits just keep on piling up, as even more FBI agents have been fired for investigating President Donald Trump and handing off those findings to ex-special counsel Jack Smith.
According to the would-be class action case filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel violated the First and Fifth Amendments by "summarily" firing Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman, Michelle Ball, and other similarly situated individuals as part of an open "retribution" campaign against anyone associated with the Arctic Frost probe of Jan. 6.
The plaintiffs claimed that Trump, Bondi, and Patel have long been "enraged" by Smith's prosecutions, and not having defeated the cases on the "merits," resorted to "baseless accusations of misconduct" on the part of the investigators.
"Over the past five years, Defendants Patel and Bondi were personally embroiled, as fact witnesses or attorneys representing adverse parties, in investigations brought by the FBI, through the FBI's career employees. And now, by virtue of presidential appointment to the pinnacle of federal law enforcement, Defendants are abusing their positions to claim victories that eluded them on the merits. Defendants' mission—in their own words—is retribution," the complaint said.
The lawsuit alleged that the agents were unconstitutionally fired in October and November and then defamed as "corrupt," weaponized, and biased simply for doing their jobs well in investigating a then-former president.
"The firings were timed to drive headlines and curry favor with political supporters. For Plaintiffs Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman, and Michelle Ball, and for many members of the proposed class, the first time their names entered the public consciousness was when a senior government official falsely accused them on television or social media of being corrupt, biased, or unethical for doing the lawful work that they were assigned," the lawsuit added. "The proposed class members' true legacy of service—disrupting terrorist plots, gang violence, and grift; for decades; without fear or favor; at great sacrifice to themselves and their families—will never make it onto the internet."
In a statement, the three named plaintiffs said they "stand by the work we did."
"Serving the American people as FBI agents was the highest honor of our lives. We took an oath to uphold the Constitution, followed the facts wherever they led, and never compromised our integrity," they said. "Our removal from federal service — without due process and based on a false perception of political bias — is a profound injustice that raises serious concerns about political interference in federal law enforcement. We bring this lawsuit to protect the rule of law and to allow our former colleagues to do their jobs without fear of retaliation."
It's far from the only fired federal agent lawsuit that the DOJ has to contend with.
Just two weeks ago, other fired FBI agents part of Arctic Frost sued Patel and Bondi, likewise claiming the ousters were unconstitutional and "improper acts of political retribution."
There, as here, it was alleged that the firings were carried out suddenly and without any notice, and worsened by Patel's allegedly "defamatory speech."
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