Marshall Yates, who led the FBI’s congressional affairs office, is departing from the bureau, multiple sources told CBS News.
Yates, a former Capitol Hill staffer, last year served as one of the FBI’s representatives on the Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which is composed of dozens of government officials from at least 12 different government offices who are tasked with carrying out President Trump’s quest for retribution against his political enemies, according to other sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Yates was one of several FBI employees assigned to the group.
He has also been involved with the Justice Department-led Weaponization Working Group on topics including the prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters and the potential reinstatement of fired former FBI agents who have claimed they were removed during the Biden administration for complaints about COVID-19 protocols, the Jan. 6 cases and other issues, those sources said.
Yates’ last day is expected to be Friday, a source said. His departure was reported earlier by ProPublica.
A source familiar with Yates’ plans told CBS News he was stepping down to spend more time with family and is working to help find his replacement.
CBS News reached out to Yates for comment.
As the head of congressional affairs, Yates has been the key point person for discussions with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley.
Over the last year, Grassley has repeatedly released a series of documents related to the FBI’s investigation into President Trump, known as “Arctic Frost,” without redacting agent names.
After those names became public, the FBI went on to fire them.
Among them was Walt Giardina, a former agent who worked on investigations into Trump and his political allies.
Former Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and other former senior officials have filed a lawsuit filed against the FBI, alleging that the then-head of the D.C. office begged FBI Director Kash Patel and Yates in a meeting not to disclose Giardina’s name to Capitol Hill, telling them that Giardina’s wife was dying of cancer and that doing so would also “trigger a torrent of online abuse and threats of violence.”
Giardina’s name was later released in records from Grassley’s office, and Giardina was fired.
Yates previously worked on Capitol Hill for Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who is locked in a war of words with the Justice Department over its handling of the release of the Epstein files.
He was also previously an aide to Congressman Mo Brooks and worked with the Election Integrity Network, a group spearheaded by Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who was involved in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Mitchell raised questions about ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, and participated in a call with Mr. Trump and the Georgia secretary of state, in which the president asked him to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
