The top FBI official in New York City has been forced out of his job, according to multiple sources and an email he sent his colleagues Monday.
James Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of FBI’s largest field office, was told Friday to turn in his retirement papers by Monday, he said in the email.
“I was not given a reason for this decision,” he wrote.
Dennehy came under scrutiny last month amid the controversial decision by the Trump administration to order the FBI to produce a list of more than 5,000 agents and employees who were part of the investigations into the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” Dennehy defiantly wrote last month to his New York-based colleagues about the administration’s order.
Dennehy, who joined the FBI in 2002, was named assistant director in New York City in September 2024.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In his email, Dennehy praised his colleagues as “an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons; who will always seek the truth while upholding the rule of law; who will always follow the facts no matter where they lead and be unapologetic about it; who will never bend, break, falter, or quit on your integrity; who will always handle cases and evidence with an overabundance of caution and care for the innocent, the victims, and the process first; and who will always remain independent.”
“I’ve been told many times in my life, ‘When you find yourself in a hole, sometimes it’s best to quit digging.’ Screw that. I will never stop defending this joint. I’ll just do it willingly and proudly from outside the wire,” he said.
The FBI declined to comment, saying it does “not comment on personnel matters.”
