Lawyering, Politics

“Insubordination”: FBI Official Accused of Defying White House Reform Efforts

Last week, some of us discussed concerns over the demand of the Trump Administration for the names of all FBI agents involved in January 6th cases. While noting that we did not have all of the details, I wrote that this would be a critical test for the Administration between reform and revenge. Line FBI agents should not face punishment for carrying out the orders of their superiors or courts. Now, the Trump Administration has offered additional information, alleging an alarming defiance by a high-ranking official in sharing information. If true, the controversy involving Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll is reminiscent of the entirely improper conduct of former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove released a statement stating that FBI agents were never being rounded up or targeted for their work on the cases. A reported force of over 5,000 agents was assigned to these cases.

According to Bove, Driscoll refused to turn over the “core team” involved in Washington, D.C., in the cases as part of its review of the weaponization of the legal system under the Biden Administration. Bove’s memo stated that:

“That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021. In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order.”

Bove dismissed allegations of a purging of the ranks:

“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner concerning January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties. The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.”

Again, we have not heard Driscoll’s side. Yet, I cannot understand the basis for an FBI official to refuse to share such information with his superiors in the Administration. One can raise concerns over the motivations or even the legality of measures taken against line agents. One can also object that there is no reason to collect the broader information after being allegedly denied the narrower request. However, the Administration has every right to such information, particularly as part of its long-promised review of the agency during the campaign.

The alleged defiance brought back memories from the start of the first Trump term. As previously discussed, Yates was lionized for her stance in the media. She was then selected as one of the featured speakers at the Democratic National Convention in 2020 and presented as the personification of a new Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law. Yates declared: “I was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s shameful and unlawful Muslim travel ban.” The problem is, she wasn’t. She was fired for telling an entire department not to defend a travel ban that ultimately was upheld as lawful.

I was critical of the initial memorandum supporting the travel ban, particularly its failure to exempt lawful residents. However, I also said Trump’s underlying authority would likely be found constitutional. Despite revisions tweaking its scope and affected countries, opponents insisted it remained unlawful and discriminatory. They continued to litigate on those same grounds all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost two years ago.

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Hawaii that the president had the authority to suspend entry of noncitizens into the country based on nationality and had a “sufficient national security justification” for his order. It also held that, despite most of the banned countries being Muslim-majority, the ban “does not support an inference of religious hostility.”

That is why Yates deserved to be fired. Yates issued her order shortly after learning of the travel ban and despite being told by Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel it was a lawful order. She never actually said it was unlawful, only that she was not sure and was not convinced it was “wise or just.” Rather than working to address clear errors in the original ban, she issued her categorical order as she prepared to leave the department in a matter of days. Yates maintained afterward that she believed the ban might still be discriminatory, even with revisions. The courts rejected those claims.

Yates was due to retire from Justice within days when she engineered her own firing. It made her an instant heroine and allowed her to denounce Trump at the convention for “trampl[ing] the rule of law, trying to weaponize our Justice Department.” But that’s precisely what she did when she ordered an entire department not to assist the recently elected president.

It is not clear what transpired between Bove and Driscoll, but I cannot imagine a basis for refusing to share personnel information and records with the Trump Administration.

The initial coverage of the request clearly omitted this context and led to the usual media stampede declaring a purging of the ranks by political commissars. The irony is that, once again, the true story may be even more interesting in an alleged defiance of the Trump Administration within the FBI. We have seen recently the actual locking out of Trump officials from agencies like US AID, leading to a security official being placed on leave.

As someone who covered the first Administration, this is a very different profile and approach. Trump learned in his first term how officials could stymie and delay reforms. That process has begun anew, including a plethora of lawsuits designed to slowdown such efforts. However, the Administration is moving far more aggressively in this second term. If Trump wanted to defibrillate the federal system and shock the status quo, he is succeeding in doing so.

I have no problem with officials raising concerns over possible personnel action against agents who were only carrying out their assigned tasks. These officials have a duty to advocate for their agents and insulate their institution from concerns over political retaliation. However, if the FBI refused to supply personnel information, it would move the matter from internal deliberation to outright defiance of a lawful order.

 

274 thoughts on ““Insubordination”: FBI Official Accused of Defying White House Reform Efforts”

    1. Thank God …for minds of Turkey keeping up – who of us even remember Yates? We are lead by our noses! Just the right amount circus – we don’t recall what’s pivitol. Thank you Mr turley! Thank God for your mind. I pray for you. And courageous reminding ppl like you. Pray!

  2. When I lived in Atlanta in the late 80’s, we lived on the same street as an FBI agent. He was the typical stoic strong silent type of guy, but there was no doubt he was dedicated to his work. In the early 00’s, we happened to meet an FBI agent in Los Angeles, and though a bit more outgoing and social, likewise there was no doubt of his dedication to duty.

    So I wonder how much of the current failure to furnish names is truly insubordination, as opposed to an outward effort to show the troops that leadership of the organization is being very careful, very cautious, about supplying the requested information — it just has that ‘feel’ to it…

  3. “A reported force of over 5,000 [FBI] agents . . .”

    The Left is squealing about the “unfair” treatment of those law enforcement officers.

    Was it Monday or Tuesday of this week that the Left became so concerned about treating law enforcement fairly?

    Whatever happened to the Left’s campaign to de-fund and de-moralize law enforcement? Or to “re-imagine” it?

    Did those Leftist “convictions” go out of style sometime last week?

    Quick-change artists could learn something from the Left.

  4. This former FBI agent who was involved in J6 has crawled out of the woodwork to try to get back funds that he claims was wrongly stolen by another FBI contractor. According to the report, Wise refuses to divulge what his role was in the J6 event, but will divulge that “later”. I’d be very interested to hear what he says about his role at that time, and whether it has the ring of truth, or stinks like donkey dung. Could he have been an instigator working both sides of the street? If his “revelation” seems dubious or incomplete, maybe the new J6 committee should call him to testify. Maybe they should do that anyway. Make restoration of his funds the carrot. Make jail time tor failure to appear or perjury the stick.
    FBI Turned Blind Eye While Its Informant Stole $190K From Jan. 6 Protestor: Court Filing
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-turned-blind-eye-while-its-informant-stole-190k-jan-6-protestor-court-filing
    “The court filing comes from former FBI agent and Project Veritas contractor Jared Wise, who was arrested in 2023 for his own involvement with Jan. 6. Wise had his charges dropped last month, and provided an exclusive interview to Headline USA to respond to accusations from Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe that he tried to “ensnare” O’Keefe in a plot to secretly record FBI agents. During his interview with this publication, Wise declined to go into detail about what he did and saw on Jan. 6—saying that he intends to reveal that information soon to reporter Julie Kelly.”

  5. Trump should give Ukraine and Syria everything they need to invade Moscow and capture Putin. using Kursk as a beachhead from which they can push north towards Moscow. Capturing Putin
    will bring an end to the war. just like how invading Berlin brought the war in Europe to an end.

    1. Wow, what an insane comment. Far too frequent here.
      A warmonger thinking it has strategic insight into geo political affairs.
      BTW, “invading Berlin” did not end the WWII. Try again war monger.

      1. First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.

    2. “Capturing Putin will bring an end to the war. ”
      Have you researched ANYTHING about politics in Russia? Putin doesn’t govern in a vacuum. He is surrounded by several war hawks who want him to go much further than he has to take Ukraine, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons. Those war hawks have a great deal of political power, and could potentially usurp him if he does not appease them sufficiently. Kidnapping Putin, which would most likely prove impossible in any event, would only give those war hawks free rein. The likely result would be nuclear attacks via intermediate range hypersonic missiles and/or glide bombers on Ukraine, European NATO allies, and US military installations in Europe and elsewhere. That would evoke a heavy response from the US, and the escalation would induce a Russian nuclear attack via hypersonic missiles (against which we have zero defenses and virtually no warning threshold) on the US mainland. You are asking for the onset of WWIII using nukes. GFY, idiot.

      2. You might consider a career in fish mongering instead of fear mongering. I’m sure it would be more lucrative for you.

  6. Leadership at any agency sets the tone for the rank and file, believe it or not! Open insubordination by such leadership creates the firestorm that can engulf lower level staff when it creates the impression that insurrection is permeating the ranks. While DOJ and FBI rank and file see themselves as elite and worthy of independence they still answer to the Executive IN ALL CASES! Don’t like it? Resign (as many have and hopefully many will). Trump’s team is bringing the superior attitude to heel and is rightfully making examples of the grandstanders – Good Riddance!

  7. Moscow has welcomed the impending dissolution of USAid, joining a chorus of strongman leaders declaring victory over an organisation they have long portrayed as a vehicle of American political interference.

    In Hungary, the Trump-allied prime minister, Viktor Orbán – fresh from December meetings with Trump and Elon Musk – celebrated what he termed the end of “globalist Soros” organizations.

    El Salvador’s leader, Nayib Bukele, joined in, accusing the agency of funding “opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas and destabilizing movements”.

    In Belarus, that country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, framed Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze as a response to his calls for a “reset” of bilateral relations.

    The state media of Nicaragua, a communist country, controlled by the family of the president, Daniel Ortega, declared that “Trump turned off the faucet” and called USAid “terrorists”.

    Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, announced plans to investigate the agency, alleging that the “primary elections of the Venezuelan opposition were paid by the USAid.”

  8. Getting back to the topic at hand.
    The refusal to supply the list to Trump’s Administration including Bondi would be gross insubordination.
    It could also lead to charges of obstruction as well which could lead to potential criminal charges.

    In short the guy is being a tool.
    He’s not going to have a career after this.

  9. CBS releases the Transcript and video of Kamala interview.

    It is clear that Trump is just one of over 300 million Americans that dodged a bullet.

  10. Judge rules that Trumps lawsuit against the colluding Pulitzer committee can go forward to discovery.

    Suck it, Dennis, Gigi, George, and Lawn Boy the “Anonymous”

  12. Thanks a lot, Fat Alvin Bragg!!

    First you help get Trump elected, then you help Daniel Penny get his dream job!!

  14. I found this fascinating piece on Free Republic. Almost like Science Fiction. Here is the link, and a brief excerpt:

    The clock struck 2 AM on Jan 21, 2025.

    In Treasury’s basement, fluorescent lights hummed above four young coders. Their screens cast blue light across government-issue desks, illuminating energy drink cans and agency badges. As their algorithms crawled through decades of payment data, one number kept growing: $17 billion in redundant programs. And counting.

    “We’re in,” Akash Bobba messaged the team. “All of it.”

    Edward Coristine’s code had already mapped three subsystems. Luke Farritor’s algorithms were tracing payment flows across agencies. Ethan Shaotran’s analysis revealed patterns that career officials didn’t even know existed. By dawn, they would understand more about Treasury’s operations than people who had worked there for decades.

    This wasn’t a hack. This wasn’t a breach. This was authorized disruption.

    While career bureaucrats prepared orientation packets and welcome memos, DOGE’s team was already deep inside the payment systems. No committees. No approvals. No red tape. Just four coders with unprecedented access and algorithms ready to run.

    “The beautiful thing about payment systems,” noted a transition official watching their screens, “is that they don’t lie. You can spin policy all day long, but money leaves a trail.”

    That trail led to staggering discoveries. Programs marked as independent revealed coordinated funding streams. Grants labeled as humanitarian aid showed curious detours through complex networks. Black budgets once shrouded in secrecy began to unravel under algorithmic scrutiny.

    By 6 AM, Treasury’s career officials began arriving for work. They found systems they thought impenetrable already mapped. Networks they believed hidden already exposed. Power structures built over decades revealed in hours.

    Their traditional defenses—slow-walking decisions, leaking damaging stories, stonewalling requests—proved useless against an opponent moving faster than their systems could react. By the time they drafted their first memo objecting to this breach, three more systems had already been mapped.

    “Pull this thread,” a senior official warned, watching patterns emerge across DOGE’s screens, “and the whole sweater unravels.”

    He wasn’t wrong. But he misunderstood something crucial: That was exactly the point.

    This wasn’t just another transition. This wasn’t just another reform effort. This was the start of something unprecedented: a revolution powered by preparation, presidential will, and technological precision.

    https://eko.substack.com/p/override

    1. # ya, riddled with national security holes. There’s no secrets anymore. Corinthians- we see darkly through a glass now but then face to face. (it means a time of no secrets).

      I liked secrets and mysteries. Maybe it’s time to retire to the mountaintop.

      Floyd, a good plain soup is chopped cabbage cooked in broth of your choice until very soft. 1st thing in the morning food. Cheap and healthy.

      O n o

    2. Thank you. Excellent article.

      Amazing preparation. The resistance is back at work, doing their best to gum things up as quickly as possible.

  15. “THE GREAT INSURRECTION AND REBELLION HAVE BEGUN”

    Proclamation 80—Calling Forth the Militia and Convening an Extra Session of Congress

    “On April 15, 1861,…President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling forth the state militias, to the sum of 75,000 troops, in order to suppress the rebellion. He appealed ‘to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union.’”

    Proclamation 92—Warning to Rebel Sympathizers

    “[On] July 17, 1862,…I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion or any rebellion against the Government of the United States and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States on pain of the forfeitures and seizures as within and by said sixth section provided.”
    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Now President Donald J. Trump MUST pull a full “Lincoln” and close the border, impose martial law, prosecute a war against the communist rebellion without a formal declaration, shred the Communist Manifesto and irrevocably extirpate all principles of communism in America, implement the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution and Bill of Rights including absolute freedom, absolute free enterprise, absolute free markets, absolute private property, and a substantial diminution of taxation and regulation, eliminate the Departments of Labor, Education, Agriculture, Energy, HUD, and EPA, issue the “Deportation Proclamation” deporting all illegal aliens, past and present, including those who illegally pursued citizenship as criminal border crossers and “asylum” seekers who all made false and fraudulent claims of phantom, nonexistent persecution as foreign citizens with no U.S. rights, establish coherent voter qualifications by State legislatures per the Constitution, declare English the sole official language of the United States, suspend habeas corpus, smash opposition printing presses, networks, podcasts, social media platforms, etc., and throw anyone and everyone who opposes him in prison to Save the Union until America is placed squarely back on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

  16. AMERICA DOESN’T NEED DOGE, AMERICA NEEDS THE CONSTITUTION

    The entire communist American welfare state is unconstitutional including, but not limited to, admissions affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, CRT, DEI, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, NPR, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.

    Article 1, Section 8, provides Congress the power to tax for ONLY debt, defense, and “general Welfare” – ALL, or THE WHOLE, WELL PROCEED, through governmental provision of security and basic infrastructure – omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for individual Welfare, specific Welfare, particular Welfare, favor or charity. The same Article enumerates and provides Congress the power to regulate ONLY the Value of money, Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes, and land and naval Forces.

    Further, the 5th Amendment right to private property was initially qualified by the Framers and is, therefore, absolute, allowing no further qualification, and allowing ONLY the owner the power to “claim and exercise” dominion over private property.

    Government exists, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to provide maximal freedom to individuals while government is severely limited and restricted to facilitating that maximal freedom of individuals through the provision of security and infrastructure.

    The Necessary and Proper Clause is nothing more than a perfunctory redundancy for the purposes of clarification—a reinforcement of that which was previously codified—and may not be wielded to amend and impose separate acts that do not represent but alter the letter and spirit of the Founders and Framers.

  17. Trump has a knack for picking 80/20 issues and getting on the 80 side.

    Then Democrats who are reflexively and virulently anti-Trump, take the 20 side.

    Its why their disapproval rating is 57% and growing.

    MAGA today, MAGA tomorrow, MAGA forever!

    USAID, 80/20

    Men in womens sports, 80/20

    Trans surgery for minors, 80/20

    Waste, fraud, abuse 80/20

    Foreign wars 80/20

    Suck it Gigi.

    1. Open border 80/20
      DEI 80/20
      Bald mustachioed men in dresses 80/20
      Inflation 80/20
      Hamas vs Israel 80/20

    2. I loved Scot Jenning’s diatribe on that yesterday, and the best part was the “impartial” hostess of the panel (har har) had no rebuttal whatsoever

  18. The truth is no match for the media’s disinformation campaign against Trump.

    Case in point – many people still, to this day, believe Trump called racists “very fine people”, when what he actually said was, “And I’m not talking about the Neo Nazis and white supremacists, who should be condemned totally.” The media edited out that last, crucial bit, and blasted it globally. Despite the full video being readily available online, many people just accepted it as Gospel Truth.

    1. When I heard him say it the first time and when it was played several times later, I knew exactly what he meant. Claiming he was defending the white supremacy crowd was lying.

      1. And yet Kamala, knowing all this, told that very lie in the debate. Then the debate hosts, who repeatedly stepped out of their lanes to purportedly correct Trump’s factual assertions, remained silent. A’h0les all.

        PS their deceitfulness only corrupted themselves as Trump sailed to an electoral win in both the popular and electoral votes (not to mention retaining the House and picking up the Senate).

        1. Both parties told lies during the debate. It was about the number/significance of the lies. Or do you still think cats are being eaten by immigrants in Ohio?

            1. What kind of idiot scrapes the bottom of the barrel to find a scrap to try to prove demented Donald Trump was right? Let’s hear your explanation how Trump never had sex with a porn model who does anal gangbangs. And puh-leaze, Trump’s denial isn’t evidence.

              1. # Enough of the delving into such. It’s not listed as a power of the President in the constitution. Good moral character? Harris? Seriously

              2. You can’t handle the truth. GFY crybaby loser. Trump won and he’s kicking a— and taking names, including your sorry a—.

                1. Trump is blowing his political capital at breakneck speed. He’s doing meaningless deals to make retards like you think he’s a genius.

        2. # To be fair there wasn’t a real choice. Harris was a non-choice. Any votes Harris got were actually no votes on DJT. Harris is best charterized as receiving zero votes.

    2. Karen S. the indoctrination runs very deeply, especially with you. He said they were “very fine people” on both sides–later, he thew in the qualifier–but he has always courted support from Neo Nazis, white supremacists, the 3 percenters, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers–all of whom ARE white supremacists.

        1. “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa,” Duke, former KKK grand wizard, posted on X in response to Trump’s comments.

          1. The media keeps proclaiming that Trump is a white supremacist. Then the white supremacists think, how wonderful! That is then taken as proof that Trump is a white supremacist.

            This circular false logic should be intuitively obvious. Alas, it escapes too many.

      2. Trump said, “You had people, in that group, that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue, and the renaming of a park, from Robert E Lee to another name. George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington lose his status? Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? Are we going to take down the statue, because he was a major slave owner? So you know what? It’s fine. You’re changing history. You’re changing culture. And you had people, and I’m not talking about the Neo Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned, totally, but you had many people in that group other than Neo Nazis and white nationalists, okay, and the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. In the other group, also, you had some fine people, but you also had trouble makers, and you see them with the black outfits, and with the helmets, and with the baseball bats, you had a lot of bad people in the other group, too.”

        Press: Are you saying the white nationalists were treated unfairly?

        DJT: No, no. There were people in that rally, and I looked the night before. If you look, there were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E Lee. Then he went on to say the next day some very bad, rough people showed up.

        It’s pretty obvious that there are good people on both sides of the issue of whether statues should remain or be removed. The initial complaint about removing the statute was made by the local historical preservation society.

        Gigi, you have been many years behind accepting when the narrative is wrong. You pushed the Russia collusion hoax for years after it was discovered Hillary Clinton paid a disgraced British spy to create the fake dossier to distract public attention from her email scandal.

        It’s dishonest to claim Trump called racists very fine people. He didn’t throw in any qualifier later. It was an Intergraph phrase in the sentence, and excising it to change the narrative would have gotten the media sued, if it hadn’t been a public figure they targeted.

      3. Tell us about Obama and Farrakhan, Obama and Rev Wright, Obama and the Weatherman terrorist, Obama and Cuban commies etc etc.

      4. Gg, Wrong again. You are holding on to your ignorance like a pitbull onto an animal control officer. If I recall correctly the underlying argument was over the erasure of history by the removal of confederate statues. Trump’s statement was clearly regarding there being fine people on both side of that argument. He was being generous to the posteriorifices who like to erase history.

    3. Pretty rich to be making this argument on the day that Panama just called out our government spreading a lie regarding canal fees for government ships. How embarrassing. But, I am guessing that didn’t show up on Fox News. So, I understand your ignorance to the news.

      2. @Anonymous

        Really. Nobody is listening anymore. Keep shouting into the void, though.

    4. LOL, there must be a disinformation campaign against Trump since the mid 1980s when New York media identified him accurately as a clown.

      1. # The FBI is a union of federal workers? So during a declared emergency they do what?

        I guess the president isn’t negotiating, Mr. Driscoll.

        1. # apparently a fed judge blocked the 40 thousand fed people taking the buy out? Here is proof who has been running the country. It’s the bureaucrats. Pretty good way to get them to come out and show themselves.

          DJT is on a roll.

          1. # ^ temporary hold until Monday. Leticia the genius James told the fed workers not to take the deal because they could then announce they aren’t paying you. Untrue, the money paid will be made multifold year after year because there’ll be no rehires. What a genius James really is.

            Trump also announced there’ll be enhanced job expectations such as showing up to work. Some employees may have handicapped designations and no enhancements possible.

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