An FBI agent was relieved of his duties for refusing to arrange a “perp walk” for former FBI director James Comey after he was indicted last month, in what many believe was an act of revenge by President Donald Trump.
Four people briefed on the matter told Reuters of the firing, although the outlet could not determine how or when senior FBI officials wanted Comey brought into the Washington field office, as it noted that only a court summons, not an arrest warrant, was issued. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters when contacted by Reuters.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, Comey was charged with obstructing a congressional investigation and making false statements. The indictment alleges that he lied during a 2020 Senate hearing by stating that he had not authorized anyone in the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the indictment at the time, “No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.”
Comey, who served as director of the FBI from 2013 until 2017, when he was fired by Trump, denies any wrongdoing. He is due to appear in court next week.
Trump cited Comey’s mishandling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails as the reason for his firing, although Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election examined whether Comey was fired as a result of the FBI’s investigation into potential Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
In the intervening years, Comey has become a vocal critic of Trump, expressing concern about what he argues is Trump’s erosion of the FBI’s independence. He also described Trump as being “morally unfit” to serve as president.
News of the agent’s firing comes less than a day after news of FBI Director Kash Patel firing an agent trainee for displaying a pride flag in the workplace, and one week after Patel fired approximately 20 agents who were photographed kneeling at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.
Trump’s Department of Justice has previously been criticized for its use of perp walks in high-profile cases. In their application to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, lawyers for Luigi Mangione argued that authorities prejudiced potential jurors by staging a perp walk after arresting Mangione last December.
The petition stated, “Authorities could not resist feeding into the media firestorm that surrounded the [Brian] Thompson killing, the nationwide manhunt, the NYPD leaks, and the torrent of news stories and social media posts about the predatory behavior of large, wealthy insurance companies. The politicians, prosecutors, agents and detectives who staged the perp walk knew it would dominate the news cycle for days.”
“Photographs of Mangione in an orange jumpsuit flanked by the mayor and scores of armed agents were ubiquitous. It is impossible to find a New Yorker who didn’t see it. And that was the agents’ objective: to recast Mangione as already guilty, already convicted, already condemned, already facing punishment—in this case, a potential death sentence—in the eyes of the public.”
