employee involved in the january 6th investigations, but nbc news reports that acting director brian driscollmes on it, including driscoll's. and let's not forget that while it feels like forever ago, it was just this time last week that trump fired 18 independent inspectors general in multiple departments. joining me now is someone who knows what it's like to be targeted by trump and maga. andrew barkai, he's the chief legal counsel at whistleblower aid. he served as the attorney for the whistleblower involved in trump's first impeachment trial involving ukraine. he also previously served in the offices of two inspectors general. andrew, it's great to have you on the show. let me get your thoughts on this new nbc news reporting on the acting fbi director brian driscoll's resistance to the firings, saying in a message that circulated widely among bureau personnel and fbi agents, summarized what happened as bottom line. doj came over and wanted to fire a bunch of j6 agents. driscoll is an absolute stud. he held his ground and told the white house proxy doj to f off. what does that do for moral

it is from brian driscoll, who is the somewhat accidental acting director of the fbi. he's a long time employee of the fbi. he's apparently part of the hostage rescue team. the trump administration tried to name him to be the number two. they tried to name him to be the acting deputy director of the fbi. there was a whole different guy, robert casey in new york county, counterterrorism official who was supposed to be named acting director. but the wall street journal reported yesterday that the trump administration actually mixed up which guy was which? they meant to name casey to be director and driscoll to be deputy. but they screwed up and accidentally named driscoll the director and casey the deputy. once those two guys realized that they'd been named for the wrong jobs, they just decided it would be easier to switch to switch jobs and switch offices. so that's how we got brian driscoll as the acting director of the fbi tonight, as former trump defense lawyer emil bove at the justice department, possibly on orders from the white house, has demanded a list of every

so that's how we got brian driscoll as the acting director of the fbi tonight. as former trump defense lawyer emil bove at the justice department, possibly on orders from the white house, has demanded a list of every single fbi agent in the entire country who worked on any january 6th case in any capacity at all. and even though that includes the new acting director and the new acting deputy director, who trump himself just ham handedly accidentally appointed. they say the reason they want that list is because they're going to review it for potential personnel action against all those agents. again, that is, thousands of fbi, fbi agents all across the country. and again, this is a developing story. this is as clear as i can be with you right now on the details of what has happened and what they seem to be trying to do, but also be clear on what this what this means, right? this is not an an if situation. we are seeing it already with the firings. they have already effectuated with the threats they have already made. if law enforcement officials and agents have t

acting fbi deputy director brian driscoll forcefully refused a trump doj order to assist in the firingved in the january 6th riot cases. nbc news obtained an internal message between the agents, saying, bottom line, doj came over and wanted to fire a bunch of j6 agents. driscoll is an absolute stud. held his ground and told white house proxy doj to eff off. while current and former fbi officials disputed that this happened. a former fbi official who knows driscoll well said he pushed back hard. this comes after trump's pick for fbi director kash patel promised to protect fbi employees against political retribution in his senate confirmation hearing. pretty unbelievable coming from the guy who literally had an enemies list of government officials. and senator blumenthal even brought up patel's weird history of praising the january 6th riders. take a listen. >> let me. >> turn to. >> the j. >> six choir. >> you know who the j six prison choir is, don't you? >> it's been referenced earlier. >> yes. >> and you know about the. >> song that, in fact, you produced, you promoted and you used t

. >> about an hour ago from the acting fbi director and the man named brian driscoll. >> and the way.. >> very curious. >> he told the. >> workforce. >> essentially. that he'd. >> been ordered. >> to do this. >> by the. >> deputy attorney. >> general, who used. >> to be donald trump's defense. >> lawyer. and that this list. >> as you said, was. >> a large. >> list of. fbi employees. >> that included him and his deputy, rob carson. and he didn't say that he was going to turn the names over, although he implied that. >> he would. >> he said the. deadline had been set for him to do that. it was almost like he was putting the workforce on notice that he had gotten this order. and, you. >> know. >> it remains to be seen what they're going to do with those names. as you said, if they decide to fire every agent or personnel member that touched a january 6th case, they wouldn't have an fbi left because. it was the biggest investigation in american history. but stepping back, the one thing you didn't mention that that's important for viewers to understand in this picture is that there are a gr

brian driscoll says is one of the employees as is acting deputy director robert.he order came on the same day officials ordered firearms of prosecutors who worked january 6 cases. the trump administration is looking to and weaponization of the federal government and continue the process of restoring order of integrity, credibility and accountability. democrats call the reported efforts to oust agents from the president intent on retribution. thursday president trump so many kash patel said this about possible firings within the agency. >> are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, fbi agents or personnel associated with trump investigations? >> i'm not aware. >> fbi agents association says this missing potentially hundreds of agents would weaken the ability to detect national security and criminal threats and ultimately risk setting up bureau and leadership for failure. many employees plan to sue they believe they are fired without cause. >> thanks so much. going from the hearings this week to what we learned from abc ne

acting director brian driscoll says he's one of the employees as is acting deputy director. justice officials ordered the firing of prosecutors who worked on the january 6th cases. the trump administration is looking to end the quote, weaponization and returning integrity, accountability. democrats are calling the terminations and ousting as a purge. and kash patel said this about firing at the agency. >> are you aware of any plans or discussions to punish in any way, including termination, fbi agents or personnel associated with trump investigations, yes or no. >> i'm not aware. >> thank you. >> and the fbi says dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the country from national security and criminal threats and settings up the new bureau and its leadership for failure. fox has been told many employees are planning to sue as they believe they're being dismissed without cause. griff: and they're doing it before patel is confirmed, he has that to stand on. thank you very much. >> you've got it. griff: for more on the massive fbi shake-up. bring in fox tu

acting deputy attorney emile bove ordered the acting director brian driscoll to turn over a list of formernnel who worked on the january 6 investigation to the department of justice. driscoll wrote in a memo to f.b.i. employee that is the request encompasses thousands of employees across the country including himself. in the days other headlines the trump administration's efforts to freeze trillions of dollars in grants and lones has met another -- loans has met another road block. a judge in rhode island have requested a temporary restraining order to pause the measure. that's after a judge in washington halted the plan but only until month. earlier this week, a government memo called on agencies to freeze funding to make sure it's in line with president trump's agenda. that memo was then rescind after it caused widespread confusion. though the white house press secretary has insisted that a funding freeze is still in the works. breaking tonight, a senior trump administration official has secured the release of six americans held in venezuela. president trump announced on social media tha

acting director brian driscoll sent a note to staff saying the acting deputy attorney general told him terminated by specific dates millions these the employees have retired beforehand. he also wants a list of current and former fbi personnel assigned to january 6th and a maas cases. that is a massive record, that includes driscoll himself as the investigation into the capitol attack was the biggest investigation in the history of the justice department. the order of terminations and the reports to oust fbi agents came on the same day top justice department officials ordered the firings of prosecutors who work on january 6th cases. bove says the trump administration is looking to the end, quote, the weaponization of the federal government which some republicans support. >> donald trump talked about this on the campaign trail, that they were going to clean out the rot that is in the department of justice, in the fbi. and so this is the beginning of that process. >> reporter: democrats say the firings undermine the independence of the justice department. the fbi agents' association also

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officials asked another fbi official, brian driscoll, who worked in hostage rescue operations, to pleases fbi deputy. driscoll is known to sign his name, drizzt. drizzt with two z's. drizzt was was tapped to be deputy director. quote. each man had one conversation with trump's fbi director nominee kash patel. each traveled to washington and each had set up in their respective suites on inauguration day, when word reached them that the white house oops had messed up, the white house had incorrectly listed driscoll drizzt as the acting director. on its website, the wall street journal reports. quote, instead of fixing the error, the pair decided to swap their temporary fbi roles and offices. is that how this works? somebody does a typo on the white house website and bam! suddenly you are the acting director of the fbi? yeah, that's drizzt. they didn't mean to give you that job, but they accidentally did. oh, god. you know, the it's going to be such a hassle. let's just switch offices instead, okay? okay. drizzt, you're running the fbi, then? oops. let's just go with it. today, senate repub

we have new information tonight that acting fbi director or the director acting is brian driscoll. on friday refused the justice department order that he assist in firing of agents involved in january 6th riot cases pushing back so forcefully that some fbi officials feel he would be dismissed. the people convicted of storming the capitol, including those who assaulted police officers, have been set free by this president. those who worked on behalf of the american people to bring the capitol rioters to justice are being punished for it. i mean, what kind of law and order is this? >> this is. >> saturday night massacre. >> massacre level injustice. >> reverend al. >> to have career prosecutors, career fbi agents who were really doing. the patriot their patriotic duty. >> making sure that they could protect our system of justice or. >> protect our democracy. >> hold accountable those that tried to overturn an election by storming. the capitol, who beat police officers senseless, who caused the deaths of capitol police officers and metro police officers who were protecting. >> our tem

. >> fbi director, brian driscoll. >> will he. >> execute the order. >> that has been commanded? the second line of defense and the third line are, unfortunately. >> the senate republicans and the supreme. >> court of the united states. >> when trump took the oath. >> of office. only 13 days ago, he swore. >> an oath. >> to uphold the constitution and the laws of the united states. >> that was a lie. >> under oath. >> patel's testimony. >> that there would be no. >> political retribution. >> at the fbi does not have the. >> odor of truth. >> if the senate will confirm someone who lies under oath about his legal. >> duties. >> there is no defense. if trump can impound congressionally appropriated funds, abrogate the constitution. by abolishing birthright citizenship. we are. >> in an. >> autocracy, and. >> it is the goal of the autocrat. >> to convince the people that there are no facts and there is no truth. joyce. >> talk to me about the connection between these two stories. they're not unrelated. the decapitation of the department of justice and the fbi. as a former prosecutor,

acting fbi director brian driscoll told employees friday that he had been ordered to provide by tuesday, a list of agents and supervisors who worked cases related to the capitol attack and one involving hamas leaders, the memo reads. the office of the deputy attorney general will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary. we understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts. separately, more than a dozen prosecutors at the d.c. u.s. attorney's office that worked on january 6th cases were fired on friday, the prosecutors initially had been hired on a temporary basis, but at the end of the biden administration, their jobs were converted to permanent status, according to a doj memo that was obtained by cnn. the changes are part of a broader purge that began last week with targeting of senior career justice department prosecutors for reassignment, and earlier this week, senior fbi leaders were told to retire, resign or be fired. on monday, the fbi agents associ

nbc news reports acting fbi director brian driscoll refused a justice department order that he assist in the firing of those eight officials. driscoll said that he was told to turn over the names of every fbi employee involved in investigating january 6th rioters, a list that he noted compromises again. thousands of fbi personnel, and that includes him. what are your thoughts on driscoll? the way he's standing up for fbi policy and how vulnerable it makes him as a trump target for potential firing? and you think we're going to see a massive dismissal of agents? >> there's a lot of drama here because we see a standoff. developing between driscoll, the acting director, which, by the way. >> was approved by. >> i'm certain, kash. >> patel and trump. he's believed to be a. >> kind of. in their camp. >> but the line, the. >> bridge that was. >> too far for him was. >> when doj demanded the list of field. >> agents who touched. >> january 6th cases, that that was enough. >> for him. >> and multiple sources report that he used very strong language, which we can't say here with regard to the

list, and based on nbc's reporting, that list has not been turned over by acting fbi director brian driscollproxies to f off when he first got that request. now, this comes after some far right insurrectionists pardoned by donald trump said they wanted the president to seek revenge on their behalf. among them, this guy, the oath keepers founder stewart rhodes, who said he hopes the president's pick for fbi director kash patel would clean house at the bureau. he is the subject of a new msnbc films documentary airing right after this show, called king of the apocalypse the inside story on the rise of oath keepers stewart rhodes i'm joined now by tasha adams, ex-wife of stewart rhodes, someone who knows him very well. tasha, it's great to have you on the show. what are your fears? >> richard? >> thank you, thank you. what are your feelings now that trump has commuted stewart's sentence? i mean, there's a really powerful scene in the film where you reacted in real time to stewart's conviction and cried tears of joy. how are you feeling now that he's out of prison? >> yeah, it's just exactly what

fbi acting director brian driscoll flat out refused to help the trump justice department fire agents who were involved in january. six cases. in fact, multiple fbi agents told nbc news that driscoll pushed back so strongly they thought he would be dismissed. one fbi agent put it this way. bottom line, doj came over and wanted to fire a bunch of j6 agents. driscoll is an absolute stud. held his ground and told white house proxy and doj to f off. and that's morning coffee. joining us now, national security attorney and co-founder of whistleblower aid, mark zaid. welcome, mark. >> thanks, michael. good to see everybody. >> mark, i just you know, yesterday we had on a number of attorneys, former prosecutors who worked on the january 6th investigations. and these were folks who had left the justice department already prior to the trump administration. and we asked them what they thought about just what is happening at the justice department, what is happening to fbi agents. and they talked about the fact that people are being literally targeted for just doing their jobs and how, yes, folk

the acting director of the fbi, brian driscoll appears resistant to a large-scale purge telling the fbitaff overnight he's working to understand the purpose of the list and vowed that we're going to, quote, follow the law, follow fbi policy, and do what's in the best interest of the work force and the american people always. he noted the request for the list came as fbi personnel continue to do their jobs across the board including helping with a gruesome crash on the scene of the potomac. the work force is up in arms on friday. the fbi agents' association fiercely pushed back calling any such potential plans outrageous and warning that such a broad purge would severely weaken the bureau's ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats, george. >> george: and pierre, just as foreign prosecutors are being targeted as well. >> reporter: many were forced out during the first week of the trump administration, and on friday, the new acting u.s. attorney for washington, d.c. fired dozens of attorneys who worked on january 6th cases. so there's a lot of upheaval, ge

but nbc news has learned that the acting fbi director, brian driscoll, forcefully resisted carrying out the order to dismiss agents involved in the january 6th investigations, to the point that some feared that the trump administration would fire driscoll as well. driscoll holds the position of fbi director temporarily. he's the head of the fbi's field office office in newark, who was elevated to the position after fbi director chris wray and his deputy both resigned ahead of trump's inauguration. they were both going to be fired by trump anyway. in a message that was shared widely within fbi circles, one agent summarized it this way quote, bottom line doj came over and wanted to fire a bunch of j6 agents january 6th. driscoll is an absolute stud. he held his ground and he told the white house proxy doj to f off, end quote, i don't know how long he'll be in a job for. this is all unfolded in the days after the senate confirmation hearing for kash patel, donald trump's nominee for fbi director. the role that driscoll is temporarily filling now. at his hearing, patel told senators, quote,

but before we get to the new doj potentially coming after you, nbc reports acting fbi director brian driscollefully that some officials feared he would be dismissed. give me a sense of what you're hearing from former friends and colleagues about the showdowns that are taking place right now, and the fact that it is all about the january 6th rioters. is that confirmed? is that what this is about? >> thank you. the reports from the inside do. >> suggest that. >> there's been a concerted attempt to go after the agents. >> and other. >> law enforcement. >> officials and. >> prosecutors who worked in any way. >> on the january 6th prosecutions. >> and so, mr. driscoll's pushback here. >> and my. >> assessment is very admirable. it's courageous. >> these law enforcement. >> officials and attorneys should. >> have the process that the law. provides them. and what's being seen right now from the trump administration is sort of a subversion of that due process. >> so the white house press secretary was asked about the firings of two dozen federal prosecutors. let's listen together to her response. >>