FBI agents sue to stop naming of Capitol riot investigators

Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have handed a list of agents who worked on cases related to the US Capitol riot to the Department of Justice, the latest step towards an expected purge of the bureau's staff.

More than 5,000 names were on the list, sources told CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

Meanwhile, two lawsuits were filed on Tuesday on behalf of agents seeking to keep the names under wraps.

The developments are the latest struggles over the future of the main US federal law enforcement agency. President Donald Trump believes the FBI and DoJ under Joe Biden unfairly targeted him for prosecution.

Last week, new officials appointed by the White House at the justice department – which oversees the FBI – fired dozens of prosecutors who pursued riot-related cases. Those prosecutors also had worked for special prosecutor Jack Smith, who brought charges against Trump for his alleged role in sparking the riot.

And over the weekend, thousands of FBI employees were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their participation in the Capitol riot investigation – the largest in FBI history.

According to Tuesday's legal filings, the form included questions such as, "What was your role in the investigation(s) or prosecution(s) relating to events that occurred at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021?"

On 6 January 2021, after a speech by Trump, his supporters broke into the US Capitol, delaying the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump effectively ended the investigation into the riot within hours of taking office last month, and pardoned all but a handful of the nearly 1,600 rioters who had been convicted or charged with crimes.

One of the lawsuits seeking to stop disclosure of agents' names alleges that the purpose of the list of FBI employees who worked on the riot and Trump classified documents cases "is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action."

"Donald Trump has made repeated public pronouncements of his intent to exact revenge upon persons he perceives to be disloyal to him," the filing says.

Lawyers for nine anonymous FBI agents also argue in the filing that revealing details of investigations would harm national security. It says that agents and their families would be "in immediate danger of retribution by the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons" if their identities are revealed.

A separate lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of another group of seven unnamed agents by the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) — an organization that represents thousands of current and former bureau employees.

"FBI Special Agents who risk their lives protecting the country from criminals and terrorists are now being placed on lists and having their careers jeopardized simply for doing their jobs," said FBIAA president Natalie Bara.

Trump's pick to head the justice department, Pam Bondi, has not been sworn in to her post yet, although that is expected soon after a full Senate vote on her nomination Tuesday.

In the meantime the department is being run by acting chief Emil Bove, a White House appointee who formerly worked as one of Trump's defence lawyers.

The BBC contacted the justice department for comment on Tuesday's lawsuits.

The fight over the identities of the FBI agents comes as one of Trump's top advisors, tech billionaire Elon Musk, sought to stop the disclosure of names of employees in his unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

Doge is reportedly attempting to operate in a number of different US government departments. A response to a post on his X network listed several names of Doge employees; Musk replied "You have committed a crime", and the account posting the original message was suspended.

Other accounts repeated the names, which also were disclosed in news reports.