Margaret Donovan is an attorney at Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder in Connecticut. She previously served as a federal prosecutor and as a U.S. Army captain and Judge Advocate General's Corps lawyer. She joined Koskoff in 2024. She earned both her undergraduate and law degrees at Fordham University and has taught at Yale Law School as a visiting lecturer. Her Army service included deployments to Iraq and Syria. Her federal prosecution work covered firearms offenses, domestic terrorism and violent crime. She is also a coordinating attorney with Yale Law School's Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic.
DI has documented statements by Margaret Donovan on Government Ethics, Labor Policy, and Law Enforcement, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.
Role at the time: Attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement issued with co-counsel Abbe Lowell and Rebecca Tinio
Condemned
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.
“In return for their service, they were fired because they did their jobs, as they always did to follow the facts and law without bias or favor. To this administration, this is an offense. To the rest of us, it is heroic”
Open source (opens in a new tab)FBI agents, analysts fired for roles in Trump classified files probe sue to get their jobs back · Associated PressArticle, full text
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. The attorneys say the employees were fired because they did their jobs and call the lawsuit a response to a blatant attack on the rule of law, which condemns the firings.
Role at the time: Attorney and former U.S. Army captain and JAG Corps lawyer
Condemned
Statement summary
Margaret Donovan agrees with Leon Panetta that reducing experienced senior military leadership during war is ill-timed.
“Described statement, 4:41-4:57: Donovan agrees with Panetta that wartime is not the time to shed experienced officers who could help the defense secretary.”
Hegseth confirmed a 20% reduction in general and admiral positions, with a January 1, 2027 deadline. He defended the changes as accountability; senators questioned their military justification and scope.
Nine former FBI agents and analysts say Kash Patel fired them for working on the Trump classified-documents investigation. Patel's letters accused them of poor judgment and a lack of impartiality; he told senators no one was fired simply for that work.
