FBI ‘stunned’ and ‘frantic’ over purge

FBI officials are reportedly “stunned” by the Trump administration’s aggressive purge of the agency, which includes the firing of top executives.

The highest-ranking FBI official to be fired since January 20th is David Sundberg, the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, who received his termination notice on Thursday. Sundberg was appointed by former FBI Director Christopher Wray in December 2022 and oversaw the investigations into Americans present at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Sundberg is one of over 20 heads of FBI field offices to be sacked under the second Trump administration, according to NBC News. Others include the special agents in charge of the Las Vegas and Miami field offices.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, who has directed the firings, has also ordered a review of all FBI personnel involved in the January 6th investigations "to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

"I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President's agenda faithfully," Bove said.

The Atlantic reported that FBI employees are “stunned by the scale” of the purge and “frantically traded messages and rumors about others believed to be on Trump’s list, including special agents who run field offices across the country and were also involved in investigations of the former president.”

‘I do not believe . . . the Department can trust you’

Former FBI agent and whistleblower Kyle Seraphin on Saturday published the termination letter he says has been sent to FBI employees involved in waging lawfare against Trump. 

“This letter provides official notice that you are being removed from your position at the Department of Justice, and from the federal service, effective immediately,” reads the letter, which bears the seal of the Attorney General’s Office.

“As President Trump declared on his first day back in office, ‘[t)he American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies... against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions.’ Nowhere was that effort more salient than in the unprecedented prosecutions the Department of Justice vigorously pursued against President Trump himself.”

“You played a significant role in prosecuting President Trump. The proper functioning of government critically depends on the trust superior officials place in their subordinates.”

“Given your significant role in prosecuting the President, I do not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the President's agenda faithfully.

“As a result, pursuant to Article Il of the Constitution and the laws of the United States, your employment with the Department of Justice is hereby terminated, and you are removed from federal service effective immediately.”

‘Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo’

A Rasmussen report in 2022 revealed that 53% of American voters agree with former Trump adviser Roger Stone, who said the FBI had become “Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.” The survey of 1,000 Americans was conducted shortly after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. 

Seventy-six percent of Republicans agreed the FBI was “Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo," along with a surprising 43% of Democrats. Overall, 54% of whites, 55% of black voters and 50% of other minorities at least somewhat agreed with the quote. 

The poll also found that 44% of voters say the raid made them trust the FBI less, with 29% saying they trusted the FBI more. 

A national survey also found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe the United States has a two-tiered justice system, with politicians and members of the D.C. elite treated differently than ordinary Americans. The poll found that 79.3% of Americans agreed that, “There are two tiers of justice: One set of laws for politicians and Washington, D.C. insiders vs one set of laws for everyday Americans.”

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