NEWS: Trump team ousts more FBI leaders

The Bureau takes another step toward becoming the President's “secret police."

Bottom Line Up Front:

The Trump administration has fired former Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and senior agent Walter Giardina in what appears to be a deepening political purge at the bureau. Both men played roles in politically sensitive investigations that drew Trump’s ire — and their firings further cement Trump’s efforts to turn the Bureau into his personal police force.

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WHAT HAPPENED

Brian Driscoll, who briefly served as the FBI’s acting chief after Trump’s 2025 inauguration, has been ordered to leave the bureau by Friday, according to New York Times reporting.

Driscoll led the Critical Incident Response Group, including the elite Hostage Rescue Team — a role far removed from politics, but still high profile.

Walter Giardina, another agent forced out, worked cases linked to Trump allies, including one that sent former trade adviser Peter Navarro to prison. Giardina has also been accused (without evidence, by the way) of “anti-Trump bias” by Trump allies. Giardina’s wife died of cancer last month, and he is being fired during bereavement.

Neither man has been accused of misconduct.

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WHAT IT MEANS

FBI Director Kash Patel testified in January that he would not carry out such retributive actions. This is clearly no longer true, if it ever was. Indeed, the Bureau has reassigned or fired agents who were connected to Trump investigations, or who knelt during racial justice protests, or who are simply friends with people who’ve voiced concerns about Trump (not to mention putting agents through polygraphs where they’ve reportedly been asked questions to prove their loyalty to the leader).

We are witnessing a real-time, textbook political purge. These actions — such as the ouster of Michael Feinberg — are obviously retaliatory, ideological, and deliberate. And it’s being done to transform the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into one more willing to serve as the President’s personal enforcers.

Trump’s allies inside the government are weaponizing the personnel system to hollow out the FBI. This goes beyond the top brass and is not focused on some nefarious “deep state.” The administration is punishing career agents who dared to do their jobs during the Trump years or were merely associated with someone who did.

My fear is that it’s working. The purge is steadily clearing the Bureau of people who’ve shown a willingness to stand up for what’s right and to follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead. And it sends a warning to agents who are still there: comply, stay quiet, or you’re next.

Trump’s FBI leadership team appears to be engaged in an ongoing loyalty purge.

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WHAT’S NEXT

Expect more firings. Trump’s team has long telegraphed plans to “restructure” the FBI. Now they’ve moved into their real objective — revenge — which is likely to transform the agency into something antithetical to its very nature. The FBI is increasingly being reshaped to advance the President’s agenda with badge-and-gun powers.

This will be made worse by “Loomerism.” Activists like Laura Loomer are publicly encouraging Trump supporters to report federal employees for “disloyalty,” creating a pipeline of informal denunciations reminiscent of totalitarian informant networks. We saw this in the former Soviet Union, with the Stasi in East Germany, and beyond. It doesn’t end well.

Even those we’d expect to sound the alarm are in danger. The most recent firings hint that the administration is targeting people they view as likeliest to voice internal dissent, to blow the whistle. Any federal employee who speaks out — or even fails a loyalty test — could face the same fate as Driscoll or Giardina.

The question isn’t whether the purge is real. It is. The question is: who will be left to stand up to it?

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