FBI fires more agents, then reverse course
By: Sarah N. Lynch
And Andrew Goudsward
Reuters
WASHINGTON - The FBI has fired four agents who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith's team investigation President Donald Trump, although some of those terminations were later reversed, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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The move is the latest in a string of personnel actions targeting employees who worked on probes looking into Trump or his allies.
..... One of the fired agents Jeremy Desor, has been targeted in recent days on social media after Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, publicly released more than 1,000 pages of subpoenas from Smith's investigation, code-named "arctic Frost," into attempts to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
..... The subpoenas did not redact any of the names of the FBI Justice Department employees who were involved.
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Another fired agent, Jamie Garman, was initially placed on administrative level several weeks ago, shortly after Grassley released other records showing that Smith had sought limited "tolling data" from the cell phones of eight Republican senators and one House of Representative member in the days before and after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
..... Two other agents who worked on Smith's team who were told they were being terminated on November 3 [202] - Blaire Toleman and David Geist - were later informed the terminations were being rescinded, according to four of the sources.
..... Toleman is now based out of the bureau's Chicago office and previously led a public corruption squad that was shut drown by the bureau earlier this year. [2025]
..... Geist previously served as an assistant special agent in charge in the Washington Field Office during the time of Smith's investigation and is now assigned to an FBI unit that provides rapid assistance in critical incidents, such as hostage rescue.
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Several other agents were also terminated on November 3, [2025] only to later have those firings reversed, two of the sources added.
..... Reuters could not immediately determine what prompted the about-face by the FBI. A spokesperson could not be reached for comment, and had previously declined to comment on the firings.
..... Reuters could not immediately reach the four agents for comment.
..... "The public has a right to know how the government's spending their hard-earned tax dollars, and if agents were engaged in wrongdoing they ought to be held accountable,' Grassley said in a statement to Reuters. "transparency brings accountability."
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Two other FBI agents also invoked in reviewing the lawmakers' tolling data were fried in October [2025] at the same time Garaman was placed on administrative leave, three sources previously confirmed to Reuters.
..... Since January, [2025] dozens of FBI agents prosecutors and support personnel who worked on Smith's investigation or handled cases investigating individuals involved in the January 6 [2021] attack have been fried from the Justice department.