FBI whistleblower says White House pushed unconstitutional investigation into protesters

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration pushed the FBI to investigate Los Angeles protesters in violation of their constitutional rights and bureau policies, a former FBI supervisor alleges in a new whistleblower complaint.

Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, filed a formal whistleblower complaint with leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the federal response to anti-ICE protest activity around federal buildings, as well as in a residential area, early last year.

Fields has asked Congress and the Justice Department watchdog to investigate the allegations, his lawyers said in a letter to lawmakers. She says they violated the rights to free speech and the right to peacefully assemble, guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Fields says Emil Bove, then acting assistant attorney general, asked the head of the field office to open an investigation into activities outside the federal building even though, she says, those activities were protected by free speech. Separately, she claims the White House issued a directive to FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate a group of protesters using megaphones during immigration enforcement operations after FBI agents reviewed the conduct and declined to open an investigation.

President Donald Trump had viewed video of people using megaphones to alert residents of immigration activity, inform them of their legal rights and encourage them not to open their doors unless immigration enforcement officers have signed court warrants, according to the letter.

One person whose name is redacted in the complaint told Fields that an investigation would be opened because “the president wants this investigation,” Fields’ whistleblower complaint states.

The protests took place in Los Angeles after the Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement operation. Fields said the FBI’s Los Angeles office removed agents from active cartel cases to satisfy what one supervisor described as “optics” designed to “put on a show for the president.” The region would be the scene of major protests later in the year, during a wave of immigration into the country’s cities.

The FBI and Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Justice Department officials have previously said officials must follow the Trump administration’s priorities. Last week, Justice Department leaders filed an administrative complaint against federal judges who made remarks to the media about the impact of increased immigration enforcement on their courtrooms.

Fields says supervisors were told not to put things in writing, so most directives were received in face-to-face meetings. She said she did not know if a formal investigation had been opened, as she was excluded after refusing to participate.

Fields consulted with a senior FBI privacy and civil liberties official, who expressed dismay over the investigation and later told Fields she planned to resign, according to the complaint.

Fields also resigned from the office after being informed that she would be removed from leadership of three programs, a decision she said was retaliation for protected internal disclosures. The FBI’s actions, the letter said, “created a chilling effect among staff” and “signaled to other employees that raising constitutional or legal concerns could have professional consequences.”

This conduct “had significant consequences for constitutional rights and the integrity and effective operation of the FBI,” according to the complaint.

Hundreds of FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers have resigned or been fired since Trump returned to office, particularly those who participated in the investigation of him, and former Justice Department employees have expressed concerns that the nation’s top law enforcement agency is carrying out the president’s orders.

Sen. Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, told NBC News that Fields’ disclosure is another example of Trump using the Justice Department as a weapon to go after his perceived political enemies. Padilla, who himself was forcibly removed from a press conference featuring then-Homeland Security official Kristi Noem in June 2025, is the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security.

“How many other such investigations have been opened under political pressure from the White House, despite questions and concerns about legality and constitutionality? » said Padilla.

He acknowledged that the Trump administration’s attacks on protecting the civil service through unilateral layoffs, as well as mass layoffs of internal government watchdogs, have impacted the legislative branch’s ability to exercise oversight.

“It’s going to be a big challenge, but it starts with good, honorable professionals being willing to come forward and tell us what’s going on and what’s wrong with what’s going on,” Padilla said. “We hope others can be inspired as well.”

In a letter sent by Padilla to Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel, Padilla wrote that the allegations in Fields’ disclosure “raise serious concerns about the rule of law under your leadership, the diversion of resources from ongoing criminal investigations, and the testimony you have provided under oath to Congress.”

The senator asked officials to preserve information about the investigation and send all details to his office.

Fields was represented by the nonprofit Government Accountability Project and by David Laufman, a former senior official in the Justice Department’s National Security Section.