WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of former FBI agents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the FBI and the Department of Justice. The former agents allege they were wrongfully terminated because of their work on the investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The lawsuit names as plaintiffs former agents Jamie Garman, Blaire Toleman and Michelle Ball, all of whom had experience handling public corruption investigations during their careers at the FBI. The three were assigned to special counsel Jack Smith's team as part of the election probe, which was codenamed "Arctic Frost." The suit names both Patel and Bondi as defendants in their official capacities, along with the FBI and the DOJ.

The filing is the second lawsuit this month brought by former FBI agents who were terminated over their work on the Arctic Frost investigation. According to court filings, the lawsuit estimates that at least 50 former agents were terminated in a similar manner, a number the complaint states is expected to grow. The suit includes a proposed class of similarly situated former FBI agents who were dismissed under comparable circumstances.

According to court filings, the proposed class encompasses former agents fired for their work on Smith's investigations into President Trump, those perceived to support the Black Lives Matter movement, those who displayed an LGBTQ pride flag, those who maintained friendships with disfavored employees, those targeted by far-right media personalities and those whose internal messages were flagged by an artificial intelligence review. Some of the former agents knelt during racial justice protests in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.

Many former FBI agents who worked on the Arctic Frost investigation were fired shortly after the FBI released unredacted investigative materials from the probe to Congress. According to court filings, the lawsuit alleges that the FBI broke the law by releasing materials protected by grand jury secrecy rules. Under federal law, disclosing grand jury material without permission from a court is a crime.

A number of former FBI agents who fit the categories described in the proposed class have filed separate complaints against the DOJ over their terminations.