Watchdog sues DOJ for social media posts from FBI agent leading Trump assassination investigation

The conservative watchdog Judicial Watch on Wednesday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department, demanding access to FBI records of social media posts made by the federal agent leading the investigation into the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

There have been two separate assassination attempts on the former president this year. The first occurred over the summer in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed Trump's ear after he had turned his head to look at a chart. The second planned attempt occurred last month in West Palm Beach, Florida, but was shut down before any shots were fired. 

Judicial Watch is attempting to look into reports that top FBI officials instructed Special Agent Jeffrey Veltri, who now leads the Miami Field Office that includes Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, to delete his anti-Trump social media posts before it could promote him. 

The lawsuit comes after the DOJ refused to comply with their FOIA request from 2023. 

“The Biden-Harris FBI is engaged in a cover-up of a cover-up of one its top agent's anti-Trump bias,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “This is why many Americans are concerned about the FBI’s dangerous political bias against Trump – and whether the FBI can be trusted to investigate the attempts on his life.”

The lawsuit is seeking emails and messages in the FBI's Lync system to and from FBI officials that reference social media posts or Facebook posts generated by Veltri, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and/or Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore. 

It is also seeking records of all communication between the officials and Veltri related to Trump, social media posts, Facebook and political opinions.

The lawsuit also claimed that Veltri was one of "several officials that used litmus tests to 'purge' political conservatives" from the FBI.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.