The FBI’s prime official in New York was compelled out on Monday, simply weeks after he vowed to “dig in” and resist the Trump administration’s purge of brokers who investigated the January 6 assault on the Capitol.
In an electronic mail to employees on Monday, James Dennehy confirmed that he had been ordered to go away – or be fired, in accordance with sources interviewed by NBC Information.
“Late Friday, I used to be knowledgeable that I wanted to place my retirement papers in at this time, which I simply did … I used to be not given a purpose for this determination,” stated Dennehy.
Dennehy’s ouster comes a month after the removing of eight veteran FBI officers, together with the top of the Washington discipline workplace, concerned in felony investigations into Trump which have been launched after he misplaced the 2020 election. Division of Justice officers additionally demanded the names of all FBI brokers who investigated Trump supporters who participated within the January 6 2021 assault that led to at the least seven deaths.
“Immediately, we discover ourselves in the course of a battle of our personal pretty much as good individuals are being walked out of the FBI,” Dennehy wrote to employees final month. “And others are being focused as a result of they did their jobs in accordance with the legislation and FBI coverage.”
Dennehy in contrast the state of affairs to his expertise as a marine within the early Nineteen Nineties. He recalled digging a small 5ft-deep foxhole the place he hunkered down for security.
“Time for me to dig in,” Dennehy stated.
The resistance by Dennehy – together with the appearing director, Brian Driscoll, and the appearing deputy director, Rob Kissane – prevented the retaliatory firing of hundreds of FBI officers, NBC Information reported. Dennehy’s removing is more likely to reignite fears of mass layoffs of profession officers who have been merely following the legislation and FBI insurance policies.
Trump has promised to fireplace “some” FBI brokers who he stated have been “corrupt” – with out offering any proof.
Dennehy spent six years within the Marine Corps earlier than becoming a member of the FBI after the 9/11 terrorist assaults. He was appointed to steer the New York workplace in September 2024, and performed a key position within the corruption investigation of the NY city mayor, Eric Adams.
In February, Trump justice division officers ordered federal prosecutors to drop the corruption expenses in opposition to Adams. Seven prosecutors in New York and Washington refused to comply with the order and resigned over what they stated was a quid professional quo – dropping the costs if Adams supported Trump’s immigration crackdown. 4 of the mayor’s deputies additionally resigned in protest of the deal. Trump officers and Adams’s lawyer denied that any such settlement had been agreed.
In his farewell electronic mail on Monday, Dennehy urged FBI officers to take care of the company’s independence.
“As I depart at this time, I’ve an immense feeling of pleasure – to have represented an workplace of pros who will at all times do the appropriate factor for the appropriate causes; who will at all times search the reality whereas upholding the rule of legislation,” he wrote. “Who will at all times deal with instances and proof with an overabundance of warning and take care of the harmless, the victims, and the method first; and who will at all times stay impartial.”
Dennehy’s departure comes amid mounting fears over the affect of Trump and his political allies on the justice system. The brand new FBI director, Kash Patel, campaigned for Trump all through the 2024 election, and has been condemned for his so-called “enemies listing” – the 50 present and former US officers Patel named as “members of the Govt Department deep state” in his 2023 guide Authorities Gangsters.
The brand new deputy director of the FBI is Dan Bongino, a pro-Trump podcaster, former police officer and Secret Service agent who has accused the FBI of staging the January 6 assault on the Capitol. Bongino is the primary deputy director, essentially the most senior operational publish on the FBI, in its historical past to not be a profession agent.
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