A former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst accused the Trump administration of pressuring the bureau to investigate peaceful protesters despite concerns that doing so would violate their constitutional rights.
Jill Fields, who worked the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, alleged in a whistleblower complaint that senior officials pushed agents to scrutinize anti-ICE demonstrators after President Donald Trump personally took an interest in their activities.
According to the complaint, reported by NBC News, one official told Fields an investigation would be opened because “the President wants this investigation.”
Fields said the pressure came after Trump viewed footage of protesters using megaphones to warn Los Angeles residents about immigration enforcement operations, explain their legal rights and urge them not to open their doors unless agents produced signed judicial warrants.
The FBI had already reviewed the conduct and declined to open an investigation, according to the complaint. Fields alleges the White House subsequently directed FBI Director Kash Patel to pursue the matter anyway.
She separately alleged that Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, instructed the head of the Los Angeles field office to investigate activity outside a federal building that Fields believed was protected by the First Amendment.
Fields said supervisors were instructed not to document certain directives, meaning many were delivered during face-to-face meetings. She also alleged...
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