James Dennehy, FBI veteran and head of the New York field office, has been forced to resign by FBI director Kash Patel. Dennehy, per reports, had instructed his team to resist Trump’s efforts to “out” agents who worked on the January 6th investigation. From Eric Tucker at Associated Press:
The head of the FBI’s New York field office, who was reported to have resisted Justice Department efforts to scrutinize agents who participated in politically sensitive investigations, has told coworkers that he has retired from the bureau after being directed to do so. James Dennehy said in a message to colleagues obtained by AP that he was told late Friday to put in his retirement papers but was not given a reason. The move comes in a period of upheaval at the bureau after new FBI Director Kash Patel took office last month and as conservative podcaster and Trump loyalist Dan Bongino has been named to serve as deputy director.
Dennehy, a former Marine, had been assigned that position by then-FBI director Christopher Wray in September 2024. The Bureau more broadly “remains in turmoil,” adds AP, due to DOJ’s “highly unusual” demand to turn over a list of agents who investigated the insurrection—in addition to the appointment of FBI-critic and right-wing agitator Dan Bongino as deputy director.
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
In very real ways, the FBI’s New York field office set the table years earlier for a Patel-led “soft coup” inside the agency: You’ll recall it was “rogue agents” inside that same office who apparently leaked information on Hillary Clinton to Rudy Giuliani, which, according to Washington Monthly, cost Clinton the 2016 election.
Be careful which horses you bet on, fellas.
