James Dennehy, the top FBI agent in the New York field office was ordered to resign Friday.
In an email to FBI staff in New York on Monday, Dennehy confirmed that he had been ordered to leave.
“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did,” Dennehy wrote. “I was not given a reason for this decision.”
Two of the sources said Dennehy was given a choice to resign or be fired.
As his statement suggests, he doesn’t know why he was pushed out at this moment. One possibility is an email he sent last month vowing to “dig in” over the firing of agents connected to the Jan. 6 investigation.
Dennehy had a high-profile battle with acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove last month, penning a defiant email to staffers urging them to “dig in” after officials tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol were forced out of their roles.
“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,” the email read in part.
But there’s another possibility to consider. This one involves claims that the New York FBI office was withholding documents connected to the Jeffrey Epstein case. You probably remember that last week those documents were released with much fanfare, but what was actually released turned out to be a dud. AG Bondi sent FBI Director Kash Patel a letter asking him to investigate. Her letter read in part:
Before you came into office, I requested the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In response to this request, I received approximately 200 pages of documents, which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein’s list of contacts, and a list of victims’ names and phone numbers.
I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents. Late yesterday; I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related. to the investigation and indictment. of Epstein. Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence oft hese files. ‘When you and I spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was to learn this new information.
By 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, February 28; the FBI will deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office- including all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained. There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access. The Department of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law, as I have done my entire career as a prosecutor.
As you can see, AG Bondi demanded the full files be on her desk by 8 am the next morning. Dennehy was told to resign later that day.
So did the FBI deliver a lot more material to Bondi and did Patel or someone in his office determine it had been withheld by Dennehy? At this moment we don’t know but it seems like a possibility given the timing. I’ll update this story tonight if I see a story that offers some more detail about why this happened.
