A 16-year FBI employee has filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired last month because he had a Pride flag draped near his desk.
David Maltinsky, who weeks away from being elevated to the position of agent, claims the firing was unlawful and sent a ripple of fear through the LGBT employees at the FBI.
“We’re not the enemy and we’re not some political mob. We’re proud members of the FBI, and we have a mission to do. We go to work every day to do it,” Maltinsky told CBS News in his first interview.
In a civil complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Maltinsky seeks a court order to restore his job.
The suit makes several allegations, including an argument that the FBI has violated Maltinsky’s First Amendment rights and retaliated against him for protected expression.
According to the lawsuit, the First Amendment “forbids government officials from firing government employees, or otherwise retaliating against them, simply for engaging in expressive conduct concerning a matter of public concern.”
The lawsuit states that Maltinsky was fired in a letter signed by FBI Director Kash Patel in October. A copy of the letter was provided by Maltinsky to CBS News. In it, Patel writes: “I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment at the Los Angeles Field Office. Pursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States, your employment with the Federal Bureau of Investigation is hereby terminated.”
The FBI has not responded to a request for comment regarding Maltinsky’s lawsuit.
Maltinsky, who began working at the FBI in 2008, was in the midst of a training program for future agents at the FBI’s facility in Quantico, Virginia, when he was fired, according to the lawsuit.
The rainbow flag that Maltinsky displayed at his workspace in the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office was presented to him after it had previously been displayed outside the Bureau’s federal office complex there, according to the lawsuit.
Maltinsky said the federal government approved the display of Pride flags at federal office complexes in June 2021. His lawsuit alleges that a colleague filed a complaint with a supervisor about Maltinsky’s flag on Jan. 20, 2025, the day of President Trump’s second Inaugural.
In an hourlong interview with CBS News, Maltinsky said his firing has had a chilling impact inside the Bureau.
“The ripple effect of fear has been felt. Many gay colleagues have removed Pride flags from their desks, allies have removed Pride flags from their desk,” he said.
“David’s dream was to serve our country as an FBI Special Agent,” said Christopher M. Mattei, counsel for Maltinsky and a partner at Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, PC. “When that dream was cruelly taken from him, he stayed true to his oath and is now fighting to protect the rights of all Americans.”
“This case is about far more than one man’s career—it’s about whether the government can punish Americans simply for saying who they are,” Mattei said.
Under questioning at a congressional hearing in September, Patel told senators he was not taking action against any “enemies list,” including among FBI employees.
“The only actions we take, generally speaking, for personnel at the FBI, are ones based on merit and qualification and your ability to uphold your constitutional duty,” Patel said.
“You fall short, you don’t work there anymore.”
Maltinsky’s firing is part of a large and growing wave of terminations, resignations and retirements inside the Justice Department since Jan. 20. Justice Connection, an organization that supports the ex-employees, told CBS News more than 5,000 employees have left or been fired from the agency this year.
The purge includes agents and prosecutors who handled the U.S. Capitol riot prosecutions and the special counsel criminal probes of President Trump, which were dropped after Mr. Trump won the election in November 2024.
“It’s very sad that it’s happening,” Maltinsky told CBS News. “But part of this filing is that: I’m not intimidated. We’re not intimidated.”
“Diversity means so much to so many different people,” he added. “There is no one definition that everyone will agree on. What I believe is diversity brings strength.”
