Fired FBI Employees Sue Patel and Blanche in D.D.C. (Bacon v. Patel, 1:26-cv-03604)

Complaint filed 10/15/26 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Bacon v. Patel, No. 1:26-cv-03604, against FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche, the FBI and the Department of Justice. Caption plaintiffs: JENNIFER BACON; ZACH FELDMAN; GILBERT GRANADOS; CATHERINE HERRERA; HARRISON KAUFMAN; JEREMY LINTON; ERIN MATANIC; DANIELLE RAY; and RACHEL VACCARO, all named. These are the plaintiffs’ allegations; the court has made no ruling.

What the complaint pleads

• Assignment: the plaintiffs were assigned to an investigation that later became known as “Plasmic Echo” and is often referred to as the “classified documents case.”
• Termination dates as pleaded: February 25, 2026 for Bacon, Feldman, Granados, Herrera, Kaufman, Linton, Matanic and Vaccaro; February 26, 2026 for Ray. The complaint pleads: “Over two days in February 2026, Defendants summarily terminated each Plaintiff’s employment with the FBI unlawfully.”
• Causes of action: “VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT (RETALIATION FOR PERCEIVED POLITICAL AFFILIATION)” and “VIOLATION OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT (PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS – PROPERTY INTEREST)” against all defendants; “VIOLATION OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS” for Bacon and Linton only.
• Relief requested: reinstatement ("(4) An order requiring Defendants to reinstate Plaintiffs to their prior positions at the FBI") and back pay ("(5) An award of backpay and other monetary and administrative relief as appropriate;"), plus declarations, costs and fees.

The testimony allegation

The complaint quotes Patel at the House Intelligence Committee worldwide-threats hearing on March 19, 2026: “when these terminations occur, there are internal investigations conducted by the careers at the FBI that highlight unethical or inappropriate conduct, and it’s up to me to make the decision.” It answers: “In fact, the FBI’s Inspection Division did not conduct any investigations into Plaintiffs.” The hearing transcript itself was not read for this entry.

It also quotes Blanche a month after the firings: there “isn’t a single man or woman with a gun, federal agent, still in that organization that had anything to do with the prosecution of President Trump.”

Dates: which one is which

The February 25 and 26 dates are termination dates as pleaded by the plaintiffs; the filing date is 10/15/26. The related entry 2026-03-03–kash-patel-fires-fbi-iran-counterintelligence-unit carries the date of its first press report, not a termination date (see its gate_note).

Related Entries

• 2026-03-03–kash-patel-fires-fbi-iran-counterintelligence-unit
• 2025-10-09–fbi-fires-agents-from-jack-smith-january-6-probe

Research Gaps

• Assigned judge and first scheduling order (RECAP showed only ECF 1 on filing day).
• Exhibits A (termination letters) and B (personnel forms) not read; only the main complaint document was fetched.
• House Intelligence hearing transcript, March 19, 2026, to check Patel’s quoted words.