The head of the FBI’s New York Field Office was pushed out of the bureau on Monday, a month after he told his employees to resist an administration official who requested the names of all agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases.
James Dennehy, the New York field office’s now former assistant director in charge, was ordered to send in his resignation papers on Friday or else be fired, The Washington Times has learned.
The FBI declined to comment on Mr. Dennehy’s employment status with the bureau.
In an email to FBI personnel in New York, Mr. Dennehy said that he had been forced to retire.
“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did,” Mr. Dennehy wrote. “I was not given a reason for this decision.”
Last month, Mr. Dennehy urged the New York field office not to comply after Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered then Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll to produce a list of bureau employees who worked on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“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,” Mr. Dennehy wrote to employees at the field office. “Time for me to dig in.”
According to sources, Mr. Driscoll’s employment is also in question because, like Mr. Dennehy, he refused Mr. Bove’s order to hand over the names of bureau employees involved in Jan. 6 criminal cases and the extent of each employee’s involvement.
The New York FBI has been under scrutiny in the recent days, as Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel demanding to know why thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein were withheld from her by the bureau’s office there.
In her letter, she wrote that before Mr. Patel became director, she requested the complete files from the agency related to Epstein and that in response the FBI sent her about 200 pages consisting primarily of flight logs, Epstein’s contacts and 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,” Ms. Bondi said. “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.”
Ms. Bondi told Mr. Patel that despite her repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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