FBI agents sue Justice Dept to protect identities of Jan. 6 agents, filing says

By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An anonymous group of FBI agents and employees took the unusual step on Tuesday of suing the U.S. Justice Department in a bid to prevent President Donald Trump and his allies from publicly disseminating a list of names of all the bureau's employees who worked on Jan. 6 criminal cases.

The lawsuit was filed just hours before a 3 p.m. deadline imposed by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, in which he ordered FBI leadership to turn over to him a list of every single FBI employee who worked to help investigate the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"Plaintiffs assert that the purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action," the lawsuit says.

"Plaintiffs reasonably fear that all or parts of this list might be published by allies of President Trump, thus placing themselves and their families in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons."

On Friday, Bove fired eight top FBI officials in Washington, D.C., and Miami and about 17 federal prosecutors on probationary status who worked on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6 attack.

In announcing the firings, he also demanded a list of every employee at the FBI who worked on Jan. 6 cases - a list that Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll later told staff would encompass thousands of employees, including himself.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard Goller)