One Kash Patel comment 'made the hair on the back of my neck stand up': ex-FBI deputy

A decorated FBI special agent has detailed a White House-directed purge of the bureau aimed at removing employees involved in investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and former President Donald Trump's classified documents case, according to an exclusive CNN interview.

Brian Driscoll, who served as acting FBI director for one month before Kash Patel's confirmation, told CNN in his first public interview that he faced political vetting questions from Trump officials before taking the No. 2 position at the bureau, and he said Patel told him the vetting would proceed smoothly if he avoided social media activism, refrained from donating to the Democratic Party and had not voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.

"It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up," Driscoll said.

Patel subsequently fired Driscoll in August 2025, prompting a wrongful termination lawsuit against the FBI director and the Trump administration, and he told CNN that Patel indicated his own job security depended on removing agents who had worked cases against Trump.

"The FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn't forgotten it," Patel said, according to Driscoll.

Driscoll also described receiving instructions from then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to compile a list of approximately 6,000 FBI employees involved in Trump investigations. When Driscoll questioned the purpose, Bove responded there was "cultural rot in the FBI," citing White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's desire for FBI firings similar to those already occurring at the Justice Department.

Bove – now a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit – subsequently provided Driscoll a list of eight field leaders and executive assistant directors to terminate, including individuals who had worked on Jan. 6 investigations, several nearing retirement.

Driscoll appealed to Bove to allow these employees to reach retirement, protecting their pensions and benefits, and a termination memo followed days later offering retirement by a specified date or termination.

Rather than comply fully, Driscoll sent a bureau-wide email to all 38,000 FBI employees announcing Bove's request for additional names. "As we've said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what's in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always," Driscoll wrote.

Bove accused Driscoll of insubordination in a follow-up email. Now confirmed as a federal appellate judge, Bove did not respond to requests for comment, and the Justice Department has moved to dismiss Driscoll's case.

“You take all of these highly experienced people with the perspective gained through that experience, through success and failure alike, and remove them,” Driscoll told CNN. “It’s devastating to the workforce, not just for the morale, but also the stability of the organization and the faith in it from the people inside of it and the people outside of it.”

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