WATCH DEPORTATION PUSH

“It's about holding the government accountable for doing the right thing, the way we hold ourselves accountable for doing the right thing. Yes. We are seeking reinstatement. We are seeking the due process that we were not afforded during this process. That is one of the goals of the lawsuit. Absolutely. I just never think about that part because to me, the lawsuit is also about making sure that others are protected now and in the future.”

“At the same time, Tash Patel was putting out videos of him at Quantico, kind of cosplaying as Rambo, being around explosions and people, you know, rappelling from helicopters, all to kind of give this idea of the FBI is tough and he is tough, which then takes away resources and time and money and energy from those teams so he can film something at a training ground or at a Quantico. And it, to many people, those videos, myself included, looked completely childish.”

“What we found was an agency that was really straining under political pressure where the leadership was transformed into something much more partisan than anyone at the FBI had seen before, and where agents were finding themselves doing work that felt to them like it was different and at odds with their own sense of mission and purpose. And they were just really beginning to worry about the safety and security of the country.”

“Agents were being assigned to immigration enforcement and pulled away from things like public corruption, cybercrime, white collar crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, things that, under the Biden administration and for decades before, had been core priorities of the FBI. They wanted three times as many people working the command post than we would normally have. And I just had logistical concerns. And when asked, it was, well, we've gotta do this for optics. We've got to make a show for the president.”

“The investigative team had determined that the protesters were exercising their first amendment rights. And so they say, we're not going to go forward with this investigation. And they're told, you have to open one anyway. It was so ludicrous. It's almost like this would have been in normal times, this would have been your scenario in your in your legal training that you would take a test on, and it would be, you know, so you've been told to open this investigation. What do you do? And the answer would be, you do not because this is first amendment protected activity.”

“My letter said, you know, due to my lack of judgment and lack of impartiality that led to the political weaponization of the government. And to me, what that meant was you were on this investigation, and, we're firing you for it. I just kept thinking, you know, this this life that I had, that I enjoyed, that I loved, the people that I was able to help, the justice that I was able to get for individuals is over.”