Fired FBI Executives Hire High Powered Legal Talent

Abbe Lowell, Mark Zaid will defend FBI officials forced out without due process by Trump appointees

Abbe Lowell arrives at federal court, June 6, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. Matt Rourke/AP

A group of just fired FBI executives has  hired a pair of high powered Washington,  D.C. attorneys  to challenge their dismissals in federal court on the grounds they were  unjustified acts of political “retribution” by Director Kash Patel, sources familiar with the matter tell SpyTalk. 

The cashiered agents’ decision to hire Abbe Lowell, one of Washington’s most prominent defense lawyers, and national security attorney Mark Zaid seems destined to escalate tensions over Patel’s efforts to shake up  the bureau and purge an ever expanding coterie of veteran agents who have been perceived as insufficiently loyal to President Trump’s agenda.

“This is the high point of politicization of the FBI,” said Chris O’Leary, a former senior counter-terrorism agent who maintains close ties to the bureau workforce. “There seems to be no limit to what they’ll do. I don’t think it could be worse.”