WASHINGTON: FBI employees were ordered on Sunday to answer a questionnaire about any work they may have done on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, stoking fear about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency. The list of questions in the memo, seen by Reuters, direct employees to give their job title, any role they played in the investigations into the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of President Donald Trump and whether they helped supervise such investigations.
“I know myself and others receiving this questionnaire have a lot of questions and concerns, which I am working hard to get answers to,” Chad Yarbrough, the assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI headquarters, wrote in a weekend email seen by Reuters.
Yarbrough told employees the answers are due by 3 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Monday.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the questionnaire.
Democrats and other critics have said Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials who played roles in the criminal cases against Trump and the Jan. 6 rioters.
On Trump’s first day back in office on Jan. 20, he commuted the sentences of 14 people in connection with the Capitol attack and pardoned the rest — including those who violently attacked law enforcement officers.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on Friday demanded that the FBI by Tuesday at noon ET (1700 GMT) turn over to him a list of every employee who worked on Jan. 6 cases, as well as a list of those who worked on a criminal case filed last year against leaders of the militant Hamas group in connection with the Gaza war.
He also fired eight senior FBI officials from agency headquarters as well as the heads of the Miami and Washington, D.C., field offices.
Bove last week fired more than a dozen career Justice Department prosecutors who worked on the two now-dismissed criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump, one involving actions taken to try to overturn the 2020 election results and the other involving classified government documents.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specializes in national security, said in a letter to Bove that his actions appeared to be in violation of due process and if an individual’s information was made public, it could threaten their safety.
“If you proceed with terminations and/or public exposure of terminated employees’ identities, we stand ready to vindicate their rights through all available legal means,” the letter, which Zaid released on X, said.
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, in an email to staff on Friday announcing details about the order from the Bove, said the request “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.”
“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director (Robert) Kissane,” Driscoll noted.
Despite reports about other firings throughout the bureau, emails seen by Reuters from both the FBI Agents Association and from James Dennehy, the assistant FBI director in charge of the New York office, made it clear that no one else had been asked to resign.
Nevertheless, some employees on Friday started to clear out their desks amid concerns they might be next, according to the FBI Agents Association email seen by Reuters.
“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” Dennehy wrote on Friday, saying he gave credit to Driscoll and Kissane for “fighting for this organization.”
Dennehy added that other than the select group of people named in Bove’s memo, “NO ONE has been told they are being removed at this time.”
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FBI staff ordered to reveal their role in Jan. 6 probes by Monday
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FBI staff ordered to reveal their role in Jan. 6 probes by Monday
- Latest action stokes fear about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency
- Critics say Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials
Italy approves new migration bill including powers to impose ‘naval blockades’ on migrant ships
ROME: Italy’s conservative government led by Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday approved a bill introducing new measures aimed at fighting illegal immigration, including a so-called “naval blockade” for migrant ships trying to reach Italian shores.
A cabinet meeting in the late afternoon gave the go-ahead to the bill, which now needs to be discussed and approved in both chambers of parliament before becoming effective.
Italy’s new migration package — which also includes stricter surveillance at borders and cooperation with European agencies — comes a day after the approval of the new EU pact on migration and asylum, which Rome plans to implement swiftly.
The package includes new powers that would enable Italian authorities to impose a naval blockade on migrant ships trying to enter Italy’s territorial waters, under certain conditions.
Authorities can ban the crossing into Italian waters for up to 30 days, in cases in which the migrant ship poses “serious threats to public order or national security,” as in the concrete risk of terrorist acts or terrorist infiltration, the bill says. The blockade is extendable up to a maximum of six months.
It would also be possible to stop the ships from entering Italian waters in the case of a drastic influx in migrants that could jeopardize the secure management of borders.
Those violating the rules would face fines of up to 50,000 euros ($59,400) and would see their boats confiscated in the case of repeated violations, a measure that seems to target humanitarian rescue ships.
In those cases, the intercepted migrants could be “transported to third countries other than their country of origin, with which Italy has entered into specific agreements,” the bill says.
Under those rules, the Meloni government aims at restarting offshore processing hubs similar to the two controversial ones created in Albania, which have been substantially inactive for about two years due to legal hurdles.
These centers — a major effort by the Meloni government to manage migration flows — have constantly sparked debates about their legality and efficacy, raising strong opposition from humanitarian groups.
The Italian bill’s approval comes after European lawmakers on Tuesday voted to approve new immigration policies that allow nations to deny asylum and deport migrants because they either hail from a country designated safe or could apply for asylum in a country outside the 27-nation bloc.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani hailed the new rules on Tuesday, saying the confirmation from the European Parliament on the list of safe countries “proves Italy right.”
A cabinet meeting in the late afternoon gave the go-ahead to the bill, which now needs to be discussed and approved in both chambers of parliament before becoming effective.
Italy’s new migration package — which also includes stricter surveillance at borders and cooperation with European agencies — comes a day after the approval of the new EU pact on migration and asylum, which Rome plans to implement swiftly.
The package includes new powers that would enable Italian authorities to impose a naval blockade on migrant ships trying to enter Italy’s territorial waters, under certain conditions.
Authorities can ban the crossing into Italian waters for up to 30 days, in cases in which the migrant ship poses “serious threats to public order or national security,” as in the concrete risk of terrorist acts or terrorist infiltration, the bill says. The blockade is extendable up to a maximum of six months.
It would also be possible to stop the ships from entering Italian waters in the case of a drastic influx in migrants that could jeopardize the secure management of borders.
Those violating the rules would face fines of up to 50,000 euros ($59,400) and would see their boats confiscated in the case of repeated violations, a measure that seems to target humanitarian rescue ships.
In those cases, the intercepted migrants could be “transported to third countries other than their country of origin, with which Italy has entered into specific agreements,” the bill says.
Under those rules, the Meloni government aims at restarting offshore processing hubs similar to the two controversial ones created in Albania, which have been substantially inactive for about two years due to legal hurdles.
These centers — a major effort by the Meloni government to manage migration flows — have constantly sparked debates about their legality and efficacy, raising strong opposition from humanitarian groups.
The Italian bill’s approval comes after European lawmakers on Tuesday voted to approve new immigration policies that allow nations to deny asylum and deport migrants because they either hail from a country designated safe or could apply for asylum in a country outside the 27-nation bloc.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani hailed the new rules on Tuesday, saying the confirmation from the European Parliament on the list of safe countries “proves Italy right.”
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