i think emil bove letter today was way over the top, way too dramatic. it's a soap opera to say this is insubordination. what the fbi did is respond in the normal way. that one would respond. so i suppose if you take that view, technically the fbi did not do exactly what emil bove instructed them to do, but for quite good reason. this could have been resolved far short of a public letter saying that there had been insubordination. >> i want you to listen to to something that president trump said today as pam bondi was was being sworn in inside the oval office. >> i know i'm supposed to say she's going to be totally impartial with respect to democrats, and i think she will be as impartial as a person can be. i'm not sure if there's a possibility of totally, but she's going to be as total as you can get. >> we saw her and her her first full day today. first, mostly full day. i guess i should say. ellie, what are you watching for in terms of what the doj looks like under attorney general pam bondi? >> well, the thing that jumped out to me today, caitlin, is

emil bove, in his memo says that's the purpose of the list. people who did their job to. to figure out what happened and who's responsible for january. >> 6th. >> cases that. every single judge who has had these cases has said it's righteous. these are people who. >> are being. >> held to that kind of scrutiny. this is really the inmates running the show. >> could anyone at the fbi investigate a case that the director of the fbi didn't direct them to investigate. >> know everything, if. >> that that would be a firable. >> if you did. >> something that was not approved. now, granted, the director is not approving each and every one, but if you did something that was against the senior leadership and against policy, and that, by the way, that's true whether republican or democratic, whatever the policy is, you have to follow it. there's no question the january 6th cases were righteous. just let's remember, and i've said this in lots of people have pointed this out. these cases were ones that republican leadership in congress were supportive of on the day of and the day afte

yeah. >> you know, this is just emil bove trying to turn the fbi into the bad guys.he looks terrible as a result of that email that he sent out last friday to banning these names, an email that i should remind everyone was the subject line of the email was termination. so for him to try to send this message out today, pretending that that was not his intent and that only those people who were seen to have like, intentionally weaponized the authority of the fbi against the president are going to be sought after. it's absolutely, patently ridiculous. i should also say that his comment in the in the message today that, you know, rank and file members of the fbi won't be won't be punished or subjected to termination unless they believe that they've engaged in some partisan activity and intentionally weaponized the fbi. the idea that there is some massive group of fbi agents out there in the field who are deeply partisan, left leaning, anti-republican people who intentionally ignored the directives of doj and went after january 6th, rioters unlawfully is absurd. that is a

i'll read you just a part of what emil bove is a memo to fbi employees today says no fbi employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to january 6th investigations, is at risk of termination or other penalties. and he says the only people, the only individuals who should be concerned are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent or who blatantly defied orders from the justice department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the fbi. now, the question is, of course, jake, how do you define weaponizing? that's one of the terms that donald trump has used a lot. president trump has used a lot on the campaign trail, and there is now the new attorney general, pamela bondi, established a weaponization working group. the question again, jake, how do you define this and how do you punish these people for said weaponization? >> jake, i mean, they're going after every single person who worked on any january 6th case, including somebody who just handed a warrant to somebody who was accused of beating up cops. that's poli

that request by emil bove has understandably spread fear and panic through the fbi's ranks. the january 6th investigation was the largest probe in fbi history, involving more than 1500 defendants, all of whom have now been granted clemency by president trump, which means that thousands of employees within the fbi, at its headquarters and in the field offices across the country who have worked on this investigation in some shape or form over the past few years, could all end up on the list that the new administration is asking for, simply because they were doing the job to which they were assigned. i don't know how much you know about the fbi. if you like me, you know most of it. for the movies, they don't assign themselves. they get assigned their jobs. this is an ominous sign of a possible mass purge that could upend the mission of the fbi. concerns have been raised about what implications it might have for public safety and national security. if a large number of experienced career officials whose jobs are to investigate and prosecute serious federal crimes are suddenly go

emil bove made it clear that's not why they want the list.o described the january 6th cases as agreeing with donald trump that it was appropriate to describe them as a grave injustice, bringing cases involving the january 6th insurrection are current. number two in the justice department has described that way the. if the intent of this list is to make public their names and put a target on their back, that is unlawful. if the intent is to take adverse employment action for doing your job, that that violates the civil service rules. so the key to making that determination is the intent. and if i were still the general counsel, i would say until we are told what the intent is, we cannot determine that it is a lawful thing to comply with. >> frank, what is legal here? who can be fired at the fbi? can there be mass firings of thousands of fbi agents? this way? well, i fear we're about to find out. lawrence, in my 25 years of experience, particularly in senior leadership positions and sometimes making decisions as part of the inspection division,

cbs obtained the memo from acting deputy attorney general emile bove who was the personal attorney forald trump. he ordered the acting director of the fbi to compile everyone who was an employee who was assigned to the 1500 january 6th cases. there were also eight executives pushed out. is this a legal and lawful order? are fbi officials going to actually fire the people on these lists? >> the list is required, and must be produced by 12:00 p.m. eastern time tuesday according to our reporting. whether it is produced is a different question. but the bottom line here is that such a list, margaret, would include fbi employees from every fbi field office across the country. not just a washington investigation. the january 6th cases went nationwide. a lot of the names that are going to be on this list according to my reporting are already public domain. they're in the court filings, in the docket, already out there. it's going to be difficult to mask anybody's name or anybody's identity. whether this is legally permissible is a different question. whether these firings are legally permissib

what's your message to the agents you represent in response to what emil bove wrote?forward to hearing what the department of justice has to say in court tomorrow before a federal judge. i mean, i think that the email you reference may be a step forward. it certainly struck me as a response to our lawsuit. and if they come in tomorrow and say, of course, the department of justice doesn't intend to identify any agents publicly, of course we're going to follow lawful channels for reviewing any agents conduct that will make us very happy. but that representation is going to have to be made to a judge. and we expect that the judge would enter an order accordingly. that's what we're hoping for. >> we just. excuse me. we just heard from democrat jamie raskin. he, of course, was a member of the j6 select committee, and he expressed his concerns about the trump administration's purge of doj officials and fbi agents. let's listen. >> so what's the message? don't participate in the prosecution of any crimes that you might think donald. >> trump approves of. >> don't get. caught

but this word intent that emil bove uses there, it feels very subjective. it does. and so what does that tell you about the way that this is a walk back, but maybe not really at all. >> so listen, kudos here to the interim acting leadership of the fbi who said no because what the memo did is it really revealed that that trump was putting in place these these these examples, or trying to use the fbi to go after his perceived political enemies? that's what this memo was really about. that's the first thing in the step one, the first step in doing that, ali, is getting rid of people that he perceives to be disloyal. step two is replacing those individuals with people who will be compliant, people who, who, who they may not have the expertise that their predecessors have. right. he's removing people who were the assistant directors, who had responsibility over cybersecurity issues and, and, and espionage issues, counterterror, counterterrorism. right. trump doesn't care about their expertise. he wants loyalty here. the other thing i'll say, that's that. that's at the fb

emil bove, the acting deputy attorney general, has asked for a list of every single fbi agent in thentry who worked on a january 6th prosecution. and the acting head of the fbi sent this, you know, across the workforce, but said that he understood this would mean thousands of fbi personnel who've worked on these. >> because it was it was the largest investigation. >> in american history. >> so these fbi. >> agents are not self assigning just in the way that you and i are. journalists are not self assigning. right. we get assignments from other people. it's not really on an fbi agent to say not taking that case. >> and that's what's so different here. and frankly, surprising this isn't some effort, you know, to go after jack smith. not that, you know, some would argue that's not justified. but this is thousands of agents who were simply doing their jobs and questioning all of the prosecutions related to january 6th, every single one of them. and so there will be a review of all of those thousands of fbi agents, right? whether they they too, should face some sort of action as these peo

emil bove was the deputy chief of the section that was actually approving all of those. so his name should be somewhere on that list, too. and i don't think a lot of people know that. >> that's really interesting, actually. and he was the one that sent that initial request with the subject line termination. right. >> exactly. >> yeah. john miller, thanks so much. in california, thousands of homeowners faced with a difficult choice in the wake of those devastating wildfires. and some of you may have heard my interview with governor newsom yesterday. we're going to follow up on that. these residents who are there, they're questioning whether to stay and rebuild or leave the state. i'll speak with a man who is navigating the unknown. you're in the cnn newsroom. >> it's the news. welcome back. but it's also kind of not the news. >> watch all the information on this show. so terrible. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on c. okay, everyone. >> our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. >> ensure with 27 vitamins and minerals,

>> so let me just be a nerd and tell you what emil. bove has said in writing on january 31st. >> so everyone. >> has in black and white what the second highest official at the department of justice today has said to justify what he's doing, he quotes the trump executive order and says this executive order was issued on january 20th, 2025 by president trump. appropriately characterizing the work involving the january 6th prosecutions as having involved a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the american people over the last four years. the january 6th prosecutions are. >> a grave. national injustice. >> we have trump saying it, and we now. have emil beauvais, the number two at the justice department. and to answer your question directly, it is not lawful. there are congressional statutes. this is a question of the courts, and it is also a question of congress. this is one where in this area and in a number of areas right now, the executive branch is it's not just the unitary executive theory. >> of. >> like we. can do what

the acting deputy attorney general, emil bove, ordered the prosecutor firings just days after presidentrump granted clemency to over 1500 people who were charged in the attack on the u.s. capitol. bove has also identified more than six senior executives with the fbi, who were ordered to resign or be fired by monday. >> political leaders in san francisco are pushing back against what they say is a concerted effort within the trump administration to target the lgbtq community. ktvu christien kafton has more now on how lawmakers, educators and others are responding. >> it is authoritarianism 101, and we are calling it out, and we're not going to let them get away with that. >> state senator scott wiener from san francisco called together lawmakers, local political leaders and community members to say they are fighting back against the trump administration. organizers said the president has targeted them with a series of executive orders aimed at the lgbtq community. senator wiener said he's authored legislation aimed at protecting california's lgbtq communities. >> i am carrying a senate b

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

mass exodus is in the works inside the halls of the doj and fbi, acting deputy attorney general emil boveformer defense attorney to president trump, sending a department wide memo entitled terminations. quote, i do not believe that the current leadership of the justice department can trust these fbi employees to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully. bove instructed fbi leaders to compile lists of agents involved in the more than 1500 investigations of january 6th rioters. at least 4000 agents across the country received a 12 question survey about their roles. that was due by 3 p.m. today. an unnamed current fbi agent says, quote, we took an oath to protect the american people and the constitution, and now we are being targeted for it. a former fbi agent tells fox, quote, cleaning up washington doesn't mean tearing down the institutions that protect americans. we need real reform, not a purge. let's fix what's broken without destroying what works. president trump today, doubling down on the changes. >> we have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement and wha

acting deputy attorney general emil bove, the former defense attorney to president trump, sending a departmentemo entitled terminations. quote, i do not believe that the current leadership of the justice department can trust these fbi employees to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully. bove instructed fbi leaders to compile lists of agents involved in the more than 1500 investigations of january 6th rioters. at least 4000 agents across the country received a 12 question survey about their roles. that was due by 3 p.m. today. an unnamed current fbi agent says, quote, we took an oath to protect the american people and the constitution, and now we are being targeted for it. a former fbi agent tells fox, quote, cleaning up washington doesn't mean tearing down the institutions that protect americans. we need real reform, not a purge. let's fix what's broken without destroying what works. president trump today, doubling down on the changes. >> we have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement and what we want to do. and i, kash, is the one to do it. >> just last week, d

>> emil bove vehicle features. >> no accidents. >> right? >> no. >> good. >> generating offer. carvana can pick it up tomorrow. >> that's an amazing offer. do yeah, it is weird that we still call these things phones. well, yeah. they're more like mini computers. precisely, next slide. xfinity mobile customers are connected to wifi 90% of the time. that's why our network has powerboost with wifi speeds up to a gig where you need it most. so, this whole meeting could have been remote? oh, that is my ex-husband who i don't speak to. hey! no, i'm good to talk! xfinity internet customers, cut your mobile bill in half for your first year with xfinity mobile. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. work faster than old school pills. see if sparks are right for you at roko. >> sparks 28 year old went straight into a telephone pole. >> gotta bend. >> those knees. >> quit showing. >> off. >> you've always said. >> being in the pit is like playing a team. >> sport. >> a team. >> has to be able to trust each other. >> maybe just watch. >> the first time. >> hey. >> we need

emil bove, in his memo says that's the purpose of the list. people who did their job to figure out what happened and who's responsible for january 6th cases that every single judge who has had these cases has said it's righteous. these are people who are being held to that kind of scrutiny. this is really the inmates running the show. >> could anyone at the fbi investigate a case that the director of the fbi didn't direct them to investigate? >> no. everything. >> if that. >> that would be a firable if you did something that was not approved. now, granted, the director is not approving each and every one, but if you did something that was against the senior leadership and against policy and that, by the way, that's true whether republican or democratic, whatever the policy is, you have to follow it. there's no question the january 6th cases were righteous. just let's remember, and i've said this in lots of people have pointed this out. these cases were ones that republican leadership in congress were supportive of on the day of and the day aft

emil bove, he issued a new memo, this time directly to fbi employees trying to clarify that not all of them should be worried about getting fired, or at least not more than 5000 of them. but in some ways, the memo perhaps created new problems for this relationship between the justice department and the fbi. he says that he was asking for a smaller group of of of employees to be identified who were working on these january 6th cases, and that he was denied that information by fbi leaders. he called that insubordination. but let me also read you just a part of the memo where he's trying to clarify about what they're what they can expect. he says, let me be clear. no fbi employees who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to the january 6th investigations, is at risk of termination or other penalties. the only individuals who should be concerned are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, and who blatantly defied orders from department leadership or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the fbi. it's that word, john, that that kee

part of this effort, apparently, acting deputy attorney general emil bove request for information on a core team of fbi employees who worked on january 6th investigations. but he said fbi leadership refused to identify that group of employees, prompting beauvais to accuse fbi leadership of insubordination, according to a memo obtained by cnn. this comes a week after beauvais sent a memo instructing the fbi to provide information on all current and former bureau employees who worked on january 6th investigations at any time. but yesterday, beauvais attempted to clarify fbi employees who simply followed orders won't be fired. he said in an email, however, if anyone acted with, quote, corrupt or partisan intent, they could still face consequences. the former deputy director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, rejected that idea that these kinds of agents exist within the bureau at all. >> the idea. >> that the fbi. contains some group of rank and file agents who are radical, left leaning partizans who are out there ignoring the directions given to them by their supervisors in order to target rep

this information was requested by acting attorney general emil bove on friday. today, acting fbi director brian driscoll handed over the information but did not include the employees names. this comes the same day a group of fbi agents filed a lawsuit against the justice department over a survey many were required to fill out about their roles in the investigation. with us now former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe and john miller, a former fbi assistant director of public affairs, two people who know the ins and outs of this. john, what more can you tell us about the fbi agents suing the justice department? >> so the fbi agents. >> and. >> john, this gets to the core of the two big questions within the fbi today. and tonight is, uh, okay, so they turned over this list. i'm on it. what's going to happen next? and then there's the other question about what could happen next. and by filing this lawsuit among two that were filed today by the fbi agents, what they're saying is let's get the courts to intervene to make sure before they tell 5000 people or 500 peopl

driscoll told them that he had been ordered by the justice department by acting deputy attorney general emil bove to turn over the names of all the fbi employees who worked on january 6th cases. you'll remember that previously, he turned over a list of employee identification numbers in response to a request from the justice department. and in a memo previously, the justice department declared that that was insubordination. so driscoll, who could be fired at any time he was installed by the trump administration, really had no choice but to comply here. he said he sent the names over a classified channel to try to ensure that those names are never made public, which is the big concern among fbi agents and personnel. jose. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much. and now to new developments in the efforts by president trump and his allies to reshape the federal government. federal employee unions have filed a lawsuit against the trump administration over its attempts to gut the u.s. agency for international development. the administration is now moving to cut nearly all of that agency's workforce. mea

. >> emil bove. >> nyquil vapocool the. >> vaporizing. >> nighttime sniffling. >> sneezing, coughing. best sleep of the cold medicine. >> kobe. the making of a legend. tomorrow at nine on cnn. >> as we follow the breaking news of the crashes, both in philly and in dc. the president tonight is not letting go of his baseless claims that dui led to that crash near reagan national airport were you at all concerned about opining about the army and the conduct of that aircraft? >> when you are commander in chief, and these are the people who report. >> to you. >> and there is an investigation ongoing? >> this was all. caused by. >> bad rules, regulations and other things by biden. the biden administration. and when you look at the way they ran things, in fact, if you look, we hired one of the first things i told them to do. i said, get talented people in those in those beautiful towers overlooking runways. you better get them in there fast, because we don't have people there that are qualified. >> trump's blame game may be a way for him to distract from the other very serious questions abou

with us now is attorney mark zaid, who just wrote a letter to the acting deputy attorney general, emil bove. mark, what did that letter say? >> well, it basically. >> gave warning. >> to the. acting deputy. >> as well as. the acting director of the fbi not to do two things. one, do not summarily fire all of these fbi personnel without any due process, procedural or substantive. but more importantly, do not release their names. if in fact you do fire them, do not put out a public list to say, essentially, these are the enemies which would just target not only the employees, but potentially often also their families with doxxing, with swatting, we've already seen threats essentially come from former j6, you know, criminal defendants who are calling for effectively the heads of all of these, you know, traitors, as they call them, who work within the fbi, who put them in jail. >> what was the response from the doj to this letter? >> oh, it was exactly what we expected it to be. we haven't heard a thing. >> how unusual of a request is it from the department of justice to fbi employees to fill ou

i have it right here that went out from emil bove. who is the the acting deputy attorney general and the subject line is terminations, and he's asking for the names of everyone, former and current agents and analysts who worked on january 6th related cases, as well as a hamas related case that the justice department brought last year and the pushback you're getting is is real. i'll read you just a part of an email that came from james dennehy, the head of the new york field office, to his employees. he says, i will support each and every one of you with whatever personal decision you make, but i'm sticking around to defend you, your work, your families and this team we call the flagship. time for me to dig in and i'll tell you this, the other thing that's happening is that you have outside groups, outside lawyers who are representing agents, and some of the prosecutors who've already been purged. by the way, sara, from the justice department, there are dozens of prosecutors who have already been fired for simply touching anything rela

memo to the fbi workforce, former trump personal attorney and now acting deputy attorney general emil bove is demanding the bureau provide a list of the thousands of fbi employees who worked on january 6th cases and investigations to, quote, determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary. so who's next on the chopping block? joining me now is msnbc senior contributing editor michele norris. michele, thanks for coming on the show today. there's reporting out yesterday, as well that aides to elon musk locked career civil servants out of computer systems that hold the personal data of millions of federal employees. these musk allies at opm, the office of personnel management, have been making moves that have obscured visibility into what they're doing there with the computer and data systems. then you couple that with the news that the highest ranking career official at the treasury department, david lebryk, resigned after getting into a clash with more musk allies over access to sensitive payment systems. who's really running our government right now? michelle? elon musk or

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>> well, dana, this is a memo from emil bove. who is. >> the acting. >> deputy attorney general. >> and one of the things he's. >> doing here. >> is to try to clarify and perhaps calm the nerves of people at the fbi, that they might be getting fired simply for. >> doing their jobs. >> simply for following, doing the. >> work that. >> they're assigned. >> to do. they don't. >> have a choice of which cases to work. and so that's. >> what he's saying here. >> and what i'll read you just a part of the memo where he describes. >> the interactions that. >> have been going on behind the scenes that have not been public. and he. accuses the acting leadership of the fbi with some of being insubordinate, essentially because they had rejected his previous request to provide the names of agents, the core agents who had. worked on these january 6th cases. i'll read you just a part of what the what he says here. he says that insubordination. this is from the week of january 27th. he says that insubordination is necessitated, among other things

well, now, just yesterday, acting deputy ag emil bove sent a memo to the fbi workforce blasting the bureau's leadership for insubordination. his wds for initially apparently resisting their demand. and he went on to say this quote, let me be clear. no fbi employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to january 6th investigations, is at risk of termination or other penalties. the only indivuals who should be concerned about the process are those who acted with corrupt or ptizan intent, who blatantly defied orders from department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the fbi. mark, what are agents supposed to make of this? >> right. well, well, ana, first of all, the acting deputy attorney general calling the acting fbi director insubordinate. you know, i can't remember the last time that happened. so that in and of itself is a pretty extraordinary development. and then you have the idea that that 5000 plus special agents who worked on the january 6th cases, who did what they were told, who did so honorably and sometimes, b

emil bove, aimed at fbi leadership, accusing them of insubordination because they refused to identify this core team of employees who worked on j. six cases. was that an act of insubordination? >> no, no, not in my judgment, boris. it was an act of trying to protect fbi employees from being maliciously attacked online. if, in fact, this very sensitive information with their personally identifying data was shared online, let's remember where this came from. the acting deputy attorney general sent a message last friday to the fbi demanding this data. the subject matter and the message line was termination. he's now trying to back up from that a little bit and try to make it seem as if everyone whose information is coming over to the justice department won't actually be terminated, but he does go on in his message yesterday to make it clear that people who indicated undue partisan influence or refuse the orders of the department of justice would be treated that way. so i think the the leadership of the fbi did the right thing trying to protect these employees, trying to do something to e

and so we expect that the names are now in the hands of emil bove, who is the acting deputy attorney general at the justice department. and, you know, keep in mind that he is the one that initiated this with a, with a with a memo on friday that was subject line terminations. right. and he ordered the termination of eight senior officials at the fbi. and keep in mind, dana, that on friday we were headed towards a much broader purge at the fbi that actually seemed to have come to a halt, or at least a pause, in part because the groups representing former and current agents pointed out that kash patel on thursday had promised that there wouldn't be retribution for agents just simply because of the of the cases that they worked, that they had no choice on what to work. and also, he also testified that there would be a process. so it appears that that is the process now in place as we wait for pam bondi to come in as acting as the as the attorney general as soon as tomorrow. >> so john miller, so he made that promise. kash patel made that promise. but what we're seeing, maybe it's more na

. >> i want to read from a letter from your group to acting deputy attorney general emil bove, who, ofush money new york hush money case. most concerning, it has been reported that the justice department is planning to publicly disseminate the names of those employees they plan or will be actually terminating, despite the risk of stigmatization. this sounds like a direct threat to these people's safety and lives. if they release their names, we know what will happen when those names hit x. twitter and other right wing social media. >> it's so wrong. joy to repay the dedicated service of. >> our law. >> enforcement officials protecting us all when you. already have these hundreds of individuals whose sentences have been commuted or who've been pardoned, who. >> are now out. >> on the streets, plus so many others who have a propensity for violence or for risk, and. >> then to put these. >> names out there. >> no, that must. >> not happen. >> it's wrong. and every legal measure will be taken to protect these brave law enforcement officials and attorneys. >> we've already seen what's happe

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 their careers threatened, which they have

emil bove, who recently accused driscoll of insubordination. if these resignations, these removals, these acts of retribution continue, the radical remaking of the federal government is going to come at a cost. decades of institutional knowledge will be lost and plenty of skilled workers. think about these fbi agents, these cia operatives. it's not easy to learn jobs, people who are trained on monitoring threats and investigations. they're going to be gone. they'll be purged. and nothing less than the national security and the public safety of the american people are at stake. joining me now is my colleague and the co-host of msnbc's the weekend, michael steele. he's also the former chairman of the republican national committee. he's an msnbc political analyst. and with us is the democratic congresswoman, debbie dingell of michigan. she's a member of the energy and commerce and natural resources committees. welcome to both of you, my friends. michael, it feels like i was just talking to you a couple minutes ago. i know, congresswoman, let me le

. >> acting deputy attorney general emil bove directed doj supervisors to, quote, preserve all records, including documents, emails, text messages and other electronic communications from fbi staff. so this was on the same day that he fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors at the washington u.s. attorney's office. are rank and file agents worried they're going to be investigated, maybe prosecuted, even though their jobs assigned them to investigate the capitol riot. >> yeah. let's be quite clear here. these were these are hardworking agents who get up every day just working their caseload. and if they're told, hey, you've got one of these january 6th offenders in your home territory, you got to work the case, present it for prosecution, get it done. they did it. these are crimes. we have ■conviction and guilty pleas. 600 of them involved assaulting police officers. so, you know, they did their job. here's the real concern for personal safety. you walk people out the door, you you then publish. as has been reported, one of the intentions is to publish the names of those agents. and

the wall street journal reports that emil bove, who was trump's criminal defense attorney, has calledf a dozen fbi supervisors in several cities, some in the middle of the night, to make sure they're doing what he wants them to do. the message seems to be there are no boundaries. will the american people applaud that? that's what they wanted disruption? or will they grow weary of it? is there that danger for republicans? >> so, chris, for sure the president has some mandate to shake up the federal government to reform the federal government. i think most americans would be open to the idea of making the federal government more efficient, modernizing it. now, this can break one of two ways, or both ways legally. and we're starting to see that with courts blocking some of these orders. news you just gave. and then also politically, if it appears that the administration is being abusive, even cruel to federal workers, if those stories start getting told and the human side of all of this becomes apparent, i remind you, a lot of house republicans are already thinking about 2026. they know

deputy acting acting deputy attorney general emil bove accusing bureau leadership of insubordination for refusing to identify a core team of employees who worked on january 6th investigations. he is now trying to reassure rank and file agents who, quote, simply followed orders that they will not be fired unless they, quote, acted with corrupt or partisan intent. >> they don't want an. >> fbi that's. >> going to examine anything they're doing. we are less safe because hundreds of fbi agents are on the verge of being fired for not being sufficiently loyal to donald trump. >> is the criteria to be an fbi agent in the future, one who swears allegiance to donald trump, or one who upholds the constitution. >> all right, former fbi special agent ken gray joins us now. ken, good morning. thank you very much for being with us. let's start with the fbi. and i also want to talk about that email from the cia. but what are you hearing from former colleagues in the bureau about how they're reacting? >> good morning. casey. the bureau is in turmoil right now. you have this this hanging over your he

deputy attorney general emil bove said fbi agents who simply followed orders and carried out their dutiesethical manner do not face the risk of being fired. do you believe him? >> well. >> look, obviously. >> we don't want to. >> see revenge. >> in these departments, but. >> also. >> let's be a little honest. is this a surprise? >> i mean, donald trump told us. >> he was. >> going. >> to do this. >> he said that. >> he said. >> right, i'm going to go and get. >> rid of. >> the people. >> at the fbi that weaponized the fbi. and so i would say that issue was on the ballot. >> he told. >> the american people he. >> was going to do it. they're now doing it. that doesn't mean that i support. it doesn't mean that i like it. >> but he. >> said. >> he was. >> going to do. congressman, do you see this as revenge and vengeance and retribution as donald trump promised he would net out? >> well. >> look. >> obviously. >> if they get rid of the people that only worked on the cases that went after donald and obviously, you know, connect the dots where you will. >> but he told the american. >> people he

he said he was ordered to do it by the acting deputy attorney general, emil bove. donald trump's former defense attorney, who had previously accused driscoll of insubordination for refusing to turn over certain information. so, look, driscoll can be fired at any time. he knows that he really had no choice here. he turned over the names. he said he did it on a classified system to try to ensure that these names would never be released. ana. >> there are furious negotiations underway to ensure that those names do not become public. what's keeping the names from coming out at this point? >> well. >> this is the thing, right? so the agents who have sued the fbi are trying to get the doj to agree to a binding agreement that would prevent any government employee from releasing these names, and they're resisting doing that because they're saying they can't control every government employee. they certainly can't control an unauthorized leak. and that's the big concern here. ana. >> also, one of the first things pam bondi did as attorney general, she. >> was just sworn in.

list of fbi employees who worked on such cases to the office of the acting deputy attorney general emil boveecently accused driscoll of insubordination. if these resignations and these removals and these acts of retribution continue, the radical remaking of the federal government will come at a real cost. decades of institutional knowledge will be lost. plenty of skilled workers trained on monitoring threats and investigating crimes will be purged, and nothing less than the national security and the public safety of the american people are at stake. joining me now, the democratic congressman, lloyd doggett of texas. he's a member of the budget and ways and means committee, as well as the joint committee on taxation. joyce vance, also joining us, former united states attorney for the northern district of alabama. she's a senior fellow for the brennan center for justice, co-host of the sisters in law podcast, and an msnbc contributor and columnist. good morning to both of you. thank you for being with us. congressman. it's important to talk to somebody like you because you are on the two commi

out friday night, the bureau's acting director told employees that acting deputy attorney general emil boveed for a list of all fbi employees who worked on january 6th cases for, quote, a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary. joining us now at the table is nbc news justice reporter and author of sedition hunters how january 6th broke the justice system. ryan. riley. >> so. >> ryan. >> it's been a busy week for this administration. i want to play for you. donald trump's response to the question about these doj, doj, and fbi firings. let's take a quick listen. >> they came after. >> a lot. >> of people like me, but they came after a lot of people. no, i wasn't involved in it. i'll have to see what is exactly going on after this is finished. but if they fired some people over there, that's a good thing, because they were very bad. they were very corrupt people, very corrupt. and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization. >> there is so much i personally want to unpack on that and. unload on that right now. but your guest, i'm going to

deputy acting deputy attorney general emil bove made sent a letter to acting director driscoll on friday. and there was one section of that letter which really concerned me. he states, i do not believe that the current leadership of the justice department can trust these fbi employees to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully. that right there, the last few words, president's agenda faithfully. the fbi agents that i work with and that i've worked with for so many years, they're not there to affect and impose the. president's agenda. they're there to affect the agenda of the u.s. constitution, the laws of the constitution, uphold and defend the constitution. that's what we swear to on day one at the fbi academy is uphold the constitution of the united states and the laws set forth by congress. they are not there to put forward the president's agenda. the president is the leader of the country, and he sets the tone. but the independence of the fbi is what was at stake here, removing a lot of these line agents who had nothing to do other than just conducting a part of the

now, emil bove, who is the the acting deputy attorney general says that there's going to be a review of the agents who worked on all these cases. we're talking about thousands and thousands of fbi agents and analysts who did anything related to january 6th. >> who didn't choose to work those cases. those were cases that they were assigned. >> correct. they don't have a choice on which cases to work. and so that's part of the issue here. agents say that they're being threatened with termination for simply doing their jobs. so we don't know yet what process is going to be in place. there's a couple of things to watch. pamela bondi is the incoming attorney general. we expect that she's going to be confirmed as soon as tomorrow, and we'll see what path she takes on handling this review that has now been set up. >> yeah, something to watch closely there. evan perez, thank you so much, brianna. >> let's talk about this now with former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe. andy, do you think that this is going to work this lawsuit? >> well, i think it tips the scales somewhat in the agents fav