Nine former FBI agents fired earlier this year for their role in the investigation of Donald Trump's secret documents have physically moved into the office of FBI Director Kash Patel, wheeling in their own desks, chairs, and filing cabinets and announcing they will not leave until they are reinstated.
The agents arrived at headquarters before dawn, carried their old badges in a velvet box, and set up a workspace in the director's personal suite. They now conduct background checks on every visitor, including the director himself, and have posted a handwritten schedule on the wall that assigns each agent a shift guarding the door.
«We are simply continuing the work we were hired to do,» said one of the agents, speaking from behind a desk that now occupies the spot where the director's couch used to be. «The director can have his office back when he gives us our jobs back. Until then, we will process all incoming personnel files and screen every guest.»
By midday, the agents had requisitioned a coffee machine, a whiteboard, and a small refrigerator. They also began interviewing other employees about their loyalty to the Bureau, creating a backlog of interviews that stretched down the hallway.
A spokesperson for the FBI said the director was «aware of the situation» and was currently working from a nearby conference room, where he has been forced to ask the agents for permission to use the bathroom.