A federal judge on Thursday dismissed lawsuits brought by two groups of FBI agents seeking to block the Justice Department from publicly identifying names of employees involved in January 6 cases and Trump investigations.
US District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, sided with the Trump Administration and dismissed the lawsuits.
In February, two groups of FBI agents anonymously filed a lawsuit to block the Justice Department from accessing their names.
CNN reported Tuesday afternoon that the FBI turned over the names of the 5,000 employees who worked on J6 and Trump investigations.
According to NBC News, there were more than 2,400 cases in total – but 5,000 officials involved.
The FBI officials who worked on the J6 cases and Trump investigations were identified by a case management system.
NBC reporter Ken Dilanian said that the list does not include names of the agents, rather, the agents were identified by a number called a “unique employee identifier.”
“The Justice Department, of course, can match the numbers with names on the payroll. But by leaving the names off, the FBI ensure that for now there is not a master list floating around of the names of people who worked on January 6th,” he said.
A person directly familiar with a matter tells NBC News the FBI has turned over to the Justice Department—as ordered—a list of thousands of agents and other personnel involved in January 6 cases.
But the person says the list does not include names. The agents were identified by…— Ken Dilanian (@DilanianMSNBC) February 4, 2025
FBI Agents are in fear of being outed, demoted or denied promotions in the future.
“Plaintiffs legitimately fear that the information being compiled will be accessed by persons who are not authorized to have access to it,” the FBI agents argued in their class action lawsuit, according to Politico. “Plaintiffs further assert that even if they are not targeted for termination, they may face other retaliatory acts such as demotion, denial of job opportunities or denial of promotions in the future.”
Reuters reported:
A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed lawsuits brought by FBI agents seeking to prevent President Donald Trump’s administration from publicly identifying those who worked on the investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington found that the risk of Justice Department leadership disclosing the names of FBI agents is “too speculative” to allow them to sue.
“They do not plausibly allege that Defendants are about to engage in any of the conduct agents are worried about,” Cobb wrote in her ruling, which granted the Trump administration’s bid to dismiss the cases.
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