Adam Schiff
Role at the time: U.S. senator from California, questioning Patel at the Senate Judiciary Committee's FBI oversight hearing
Response to this claim
Nine FBI special agents, staff operations specialists and intelligence analysts were fired in February 2026 because they worked on the investigation of Donald Trump's retention of classified documents, without cause, notice or a hearing, in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.
“while this Congress is not going to investigate the wrongful termination of potentially hundreds of agents for working on properly predicated investigations. The next Congress will.”
PBS NewsHour video of Sen. Adam Schiff questioning FBI Director Kash Patel about the agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 investigations, at the Senate Judiciary Committee's FBI oversight hearing on September 15, 2026.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is the FBI's February 2026 firing of employees who worked on the investigation of Donald Trump's retention of classified documents. Schiff calls the firings the wrongful termination of agents for working on properly predicated investigations, a direct criticism of the firings.