FBI distributing questionnaire probing agents’ work on Jan. 6 Capitol riot cases, sources say

FBI supervisors across the country have received questionnaires to distribute to certain agents in their field offices containing questions about the agents’ possible work on Jan 6. Capitol riot cases, according to two sources familiar with the matter. 

A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the questionnaires are being sent to more than 1,000 FBI agents and non-agent support personnel in field offices across the country, as well as FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

The questions, obtained by CBS News, ask what role the respondent may have played in any cases, such as acting as an agent, providing management support or collecting online data. The survey also asks if the respondent made any arrests, conducted interviews, participated in search warrants, testified in court or appeared before a grand jury. 

The questionnaires are to be completed and submitted by supervisors by Tuesday afternoon.

The questionnaire comes days after Washington, D.C.’s top prosecutor, Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Martin, was directed to fire prosecutors who were assigned to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a memo obtained by CBS News. A separate memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered that all FBI agents who were assigned to the Jan. 6 insurrection cases undergo review. 

Bove on Friday ordered the acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll to compile a list of all current and former FBI employees who were assigned “at any time” to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack investigation for review “to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary,” according to a memo reviewed by CBS News.

In a note to members regarding the questionnaire, the FBI Agents Association said, “We understand that this feels like agents and employees are being targeted, despite repeated assurances that ‘all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,'” although it was not immediately clear who had provided such assurances. “Employees carrying out their duties to investigate allegations of criminal activity with integrity and within the rule of law should never be treated as those who have engaged in actual misconduct,” the note added.

James Dennehy, assistant director in charge of the New York FBI office, said in a memo to 1,200 agents and support personnel on Friday, “Today we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy.”

He noted that some may be contemplating resigning as part of the “deferred resignation” offers from the Trump administration.

“As part of what is being offered to you right now, my only ask of you is that you do the homework, gather all the information, and talk it through with your loved ones before you make an informed decision.”

He called Driscoll and acting FBI Deputy Director Robert Kissane “total warriors” and concluded the memo saying, “I mourn the forced retirements of the [executive assistant directors] and fired field office heads, all of whom are extraordinary individuals who have dedicated decades of their lives to this joint just to be robbed of their title and profession but not their dignity.”