'Entirely unprecedented': Ex-FBI official slams Trump's 'intellectual cleansing' of bureau

07 August

CNN host Jake Tapper and former FBI assistant director John Miller on CNN on August 7, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)

Former FBI Assistant Director John Miller strongly reacted to reports that senior FBI officials at odds with President Donald Trump were being fired, saying that this "intellectual cleansing of the FBI for ideology is entirely unprecedented."

During an appearance on CNN Thursday, Miller told host Jake Tapper, "No matter what administration it is. or who the [FBI] director is, they follow the orders and they go by the law."

CNN reported Thursday that the FBI is removing two prominent officials from leadership positions. One of them, Brian Driscoll, who served as acting director just before Kash Patel's confirmation and famously resisted the Trump administration’s push to compile the names of agents involved in 1/6 investigations, is being dismissed.

Another impacted individual is Steve Jensen, who headed the Washington Field Office. The report confirmed he too is being terminated. According to Miller, the officials were fired for resisting some of the Trump administration's orders.

Miller said there was a sense of fear among FBI officials due to these actions.

"This is fear and loathing in the FBI agents, analysts, employees." he said, adding that FBI officials now wonder if the case that they have been assigned to is "something that's going to make somebody at the Justice Department angry."

Miller added officials worry if the cases they've worked on years ago will put them "on the radar or one of these lists."

"The FBI's mantra has always been to go forward without fear or favor. Now there's a lot of fear, but no favor," he said.

Earlier during the segment, Tapper said the firings were "very strange" and a "sign of weakness."

"It is so strange to me, because it is just such a sign of weakness to not be able to hear criticism or pushback. And it is being cast as a sign of strength, and it's so bizarre to me," Tapper said.

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