The head of the FBI’s New York field office was forced out of his job Monday after several clashes with the Department of Justice, much to the delight of MAGAworld.
James Dennehy told coworkers on Monday that he was asked to leave, according to The New York Times. NBC was the first to report the news on Monday. His departure followed weeks of tension with Justice Department officials after he refused to heed an order to hand over the names of those who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did,” Dennehy reportedly wrote in an email to colleagues. “I was not given a reason for this decision. Regardless, I apologize to all of you for not being able to fulfill my commitment to you.”
For Trumpworld, Dennehy’s forced resignation didn’t come soon enough.
“We are allowing criminals to retire with pension and benefits instead of arresting them. Great,” MAGA influencer Joseph Pino wrote in a post on X.
Last month, Dennehy vowed to “dig in” to defend his colleagues after the Justice Department demanded that FBI staff fill out a questionnaire about their involvement in investigations into the Capitol riot—a move that employees saw as a precursor to mass firings.
“Today, 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 wrote in an email to staff at the time. “I’m sticking around to defend you, your work, your families, and this team we call the Flagship. Time for me to dig in.”
Dennehy’s department also faced accusations of withholding files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As Attorney General Pam Bondi faced heat—even from the MAGA base—about the lack of new information in a much-hyped release of Epstein files, she pointed the finger at the FBI’s New York field office in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel.
“Kash Patel is cleaning house at the FBI and it’s about time,” conservative account Stop Socialist Tyranny wrote. “Epstein documents should be released to the public, no more cover-ups or secrecy.”
Conservative commentator Jacob Creech, better known by his online username Clandestine, hailed Patel and Bondi for “identifying the Deep State rats standing in their way.”
“Kash and Bondi are addressing the situation and everyone needs to be patient,” he wrote on X. “The Deep State is fighting back, but the wheels are moving.”
On the other side of the aisle, Andrew Bates, a former White House spokesperson for President Joe Biden and an adviser to the Unlikely Allies group that opposed Patel’s nomination as FBI chief, slammed “Trump’s new, dangerously corrupt FBI leadership” for forcing out Dennehy, a Marine veteran.
“Why? Because he supported law enforcement instead of the rioters who attacked our Capitol and assaulted police officers,” Bates said in a statement to the Daily Beast. “The corruption that the Trump Administration is jamming down the country’s throat is un-American and makes every one of us less safe.”
