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DOJ won’t share names of FBI agents who worked Jan. 6 cases

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:39:19 +0000

Main: President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci). Inset: Trump supporters listening to him speak as they rally in Washington before the attack on the U.S. Capitol (AP Photo/Evan Vucci).

The federal government has agreed not to share a recently compiled list identifying the FBI agents and analysts who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The agreement was reached Friday morning, just before the DOJ was scheduled to appear in court and defend against a federal lawsuit filed anonymously earlier this week by a group of agents who feared the information would be used by President Donald Trump as part of his promise to “exact revenge” on those who investigated him.

Following a protracted hearing on the matter Thursday, the two sides came to an understanding regarding a consent agreement that requires the federal government to provide the plaintiffs with at least two days notice before they can share the list with the public.

“The Government will not disseminate the list at issue in these consolidated cases (and any subsequent versions of that list, including any record pairing the unique identifiers on the list to names) to the public, directly or indirectly, before the Court rules on Plaintiffs’ anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction,” U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb wrote in the one-page order. “Absent further order of the Court, the Government may terminate the proscription set forth in Paragraph 1 at its election by providing two business days’ notice to the parties and the Court of its intent to terminate.”

Attorneys for the anonymous group of FBI agents on Tuesday filed a pair of lawsuits — which have since been consolidated — seeking a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from sharing the list, claiming that the Trump administration would unlawfully use the information to conduct mass firings at the bureau in retaliation for the agents’ work. The agents also asserted that sharing the list publicly would put them in danger of “imminent harm” from the president’s most ardent supporters, particularly the violent felons he pardoned for their roles in the Capitol riot.

The suits were filed after agents on Monday were directed to fill out surveys identifying the roles they played in the Mar-a-Lago and Jan. 6 cases, with the aggregated information being forwarded to “upper management” at the DOJ. The three-page survey was included as an exhibit in one of the filings and included 13 questions about the agents’ work.

“What was your/your employee’s title when you/your employee participated in investigation(s) or prosecution(s) of events that occurred at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021?” read one of the questions.

“What was your/your employee’s role in the investigation(s) or prosecution(s) relating to events that occurred at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021? Select all that apply,” read another.

The agents claim the survey is part of a directive issued by Trump instructing the DOJ to “conduct a review and purge” of FBI personnel involved in the aforementioned investigations and prosecutions, placing them in danger of losing their jobs or, worse, being targeted by any of the more than 1,200 convicted rioters Trump went on to pardon his first day in office.

“Plaintiffs assert that the purpose for this list is to identify agents to be terminated or to suffer other adverse employment action,” one of the complaints stated. “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.”

During Thursday’s hearing, the Justice Department said it would agree to enter into a temporary consent agreement representing that it would not disseminate the information to the public, but could not make the same guarantee about the rest of the federal government. That did not quell concerns from attorneys representing the FBI agents.

“We are one step away from the [agents’] names being released,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said, a sentiment that was repeated multiple times throughout the proceedings. The plaintiffs’ attorneys went through multiple examples of the Trump administration and Elon Musk releasing the names of public servants they had either ousted or sought to oust in the short time they have been in power and continued to insist that an agreement that only bound the DOJ was insufficient.

“We don’t have assurances that DOGE does not have access to DOJ systems,” one of the plaintiff’s attorneys said. “We don’t have assurances other nongovernment persons operating within DOJ would not immediately release those names.”

Referring to the Jan. 6 convicts who had been granted pardons, plaintiff attorney Mark Zaid told the court that at least one individual had already “threatened to kill the agents who worked on their case.”

Another attorney for the plaintiffs argued it would be a “big problem” if “the list made its way to Musk” before the court could stop the information from getting out, saying, “the risk to these agents is horrendous.”

The DOJ pushed back on the plaintiffs’ claims, repeatedly emphasizing that the “imminent harm” of having their information publicly exposed was entirely “speculative” and therefore could not be the basis for the court issuing an order that encompassed the entirety of the federal government.

“Plaintiffs can point to nothing that suggests the Government intends to make public the list in this case,” DOJ attorneys wrote in a Thursday court filing. “To the contrary, the Department and FBI management have repeatedly stressed the purpose of the list is to conduct an internal review, not expose dedicated special agents to public insult or ridicule.”

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DOJ can’t guarantee Jan. 6 FBI agents won’t be exposed

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:30:27 +0000

FILE — President Donald Trump throws pens used to sign executive orders to the crowd during an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File).

Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said they could not guarantee that the recently compiled list identifying the FBI employees involved in the investigation into the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol would not be publicly released by other entities or agencies of the federal government.

Appearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., the DOJ told U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb that the information on the agents had not been “officially disseminated” outside of the department — meaning it had not been given to the White House and President Donald Trump or provided to the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk — but was unable to assure the court that it would not be shared at all with other federal departments.

The proceedings stemmed from a pair of lawsuits filed earlier this week alleging that the Trump administration appeared to be planning a “purge” of the FBI’s case agents based on assignments that “upset” the president and possibly releasing identifying information about the agents publicly, which would expose them to potential harm from the approximately 1,500 convicted rioters pardoned by Trump immediately after taking office.

Shortly before the hearing began, the DOJ filed a memorandum opposing the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting the dissemination of information, asserting that the department was simply commencing a “review process” in conjunction with President Trump’s executive order seeking to end what he referred to as “the weaponization of the federal government.”

During the hearing, the Justice Department said it would agree to enter into a temporary consent agreement representing that it would not disseminate the information to the public, but could not make the same guarantee about the rest of the federal government. That did not quell concerns from attorneys representing the FBI agents seeking to prohibit the release of the information due to fear of professional retaliation or physical harm.

“We are one step away from the [agents’] names being released,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said, a sentiment that was repeated multiple times throughout the proceedings. The plaintiffs’ attorneys went through multiple examples of the Trump administration and Musk releasing the names of public servants they had either ousted or sought to oust in the short time they’ve been in power and continued to insist that an agreement that only bound the DOJ was insufficient.

“We don’t have assurances that DOGE does not have access to DOJ systems,” one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. “We don’t have assurances other nongovernment persons operating within DOJ would not immediately release those names.”

Another attorney for the plaintiffs argued it would be a “big problem” if “the list made its way to Musk” before the court could stop the information from getting out.

Cobb, who repeatedly told the parties that she understood how difficult it was to argue their cases on such an abbreviated timeline, seemed slightly perturbed by the DOJ’s inability to speak for the entire federal government, pointing out that it was one of the named defendants and thus a party to the case.

At one point, the DOJ’s attorney said he could not “make representations for the government as a whole” regarding the dissemination of the agents’ information and Cobb responded by asking, “If not you, then who do I have to get in here?”

Plaintiffs’ attorneys responded by asking the court to prohibit dissemination of the information in the short term, noting that the DOJ had already said on the record that it had no plans to share the information or release it publicly. According to the plaintiffs, that meant the government would suffer no harm in agreeing that it would remain within the department.

The proceedings were paused several times as the DOJ reached out to — and at times successfully got in touch with — “decision makers” who could authorize a broader agreement regarding the safekeeping of the agents’ information. Ultimately, the two sides agreed to return to court again on Friday to continue discussions.

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‘Ultimatedadbod’ lawyer arrested on child exploitation charges after chats with undercover agents reveal identity

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 15:27:12 +0000

Criminal Justice

‘Ultimatedadbod’ lawyer arrested on child exploitation charges after chats with undercover agents reveal identity

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 20, 2024, 8:56 am CST

A Tennessee lawyer was arrested last week on federal charges that include child exploitation and animal crushing. (Image from Shutterstock)

Updated: A Tennessee lawyer was arrested last week on federal charges that include child exploitation and animal crushing after he allegedly shared a digital photo of himself with an undercover agent that included a certificate on the wall with his name.

Patrick Bryant Hawley, 42, of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, was arrested after he unwittingly spoke with undercover agents in online chats, according to allegations in an affidavit filed Nov. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

A Nov. 15 press release announced the arrest, while the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Fox Chattanooga have coverage.

“I’m really mainly into pedomoms,” Hawley allegedly told one undercover agent.

After Hawley provided the digital image with the certificate showing his name, a database search led to the Chattanooga law office where he practiced law with his father, the affidavit says. Investigators also said they traced an IP address to his home.

Hawley was arrested after he appeared for a meeting with an undercover FBI agent whom he thought was a fellow pedophile, the arrest affidavit says.

Hawley is accused of distributing online videos depicting child sexual abuse and animal abuse and of exchanging sexual videos with a 14-year-old girl. In one photo sent to the girl, details in the background made it possible to identify the residential location, the affidavit says.

The details included a dresser with small drawers, a lamp with a green shade, figurines and a chain hanging on the wall with handcuffs.

In the conversations with the undercover agents, Hawley allegedly used the usernames “Ultimatedadbod” and “hejumpsaround” and expressed a desire for sex with their daughters.

The charges listed in the complaint are animal crushing; sexual exploitation of children; receipt, possession and distribution of material involving sexual exploitation of minors; and coercion and enticement.

A magistrate judge ordered Hawley’s detention. The defendant was represented by Lee Davis and Logan Davis in an initial court appearance. Lee Davis told the ABA Journal that they are waiting to see whether an indictment will be returned Wednesday on the charges in the criminal complaint. An arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for Friday.

Updated Nov. 20 at 9:28 a.m. to include the comment from Lee Davis.

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