Ex-FBI Chicago chief sues DoJ over alleged pressure on Trump foes

A former head of the FBI in Chicago has filed a federal lawsuit against the Justice Department. According to The Guardian, Douglas DePodesta claims senior officials pushed him to target political opponents of President Trump. He says he was then blamed for a failed case and forced out of his post. The complaint was filed on Monday.

DePodesta led the Chicago office of the FBI as special agent in charge from 2024 until July 2026. His suit names FBI director Kash Patel, attorney general Todd Blanche and Andrew Boutros, the US attorney who runs the Justice Department office in Chicago. It accuses the department of misconduct and malfeasance in its prosecutions. It also says he was wrongly held responsible for those mistakes.

Alleged pressure during Operation Midway Blitz

The complaint says Boutros repeatedly urged DePodesta to open FBI investigations into people whose politics opposed the administration. The suit calls these prosecutions politically motivated. It describes one episode in which the FBI refused to sign an affidavit saying a protester had assaulted an officer. Agents had reviewed video showing only incidental contact during an immigration agent’s tackle, the filing says. Boutros reportedly became hostile when the FBI declined.

The lawsuit also cites emails in which Boutros allegedly demanded investigations into individuals whose views opposed the Trump administration. The Guardian observes that the filing offers an uncommon insider view from a top FBI figure on how aggressive attempts to bring charges against left-leaning activists played out, including when law enforcement officials objected.

The Broadview Six case

The six activists demonstrated outside an immigration enforcement site in Broadview, a Chicago suburb, in September 2025. They faced a conspiracy charge tied to alleged interference with an ICE officer. Prosecutors eventually abandoned the case following a string of mistakes. A grand jury first rejected the charges, which is unusual because grand juries typically approve the indictments that prosecutors seek.

According to the suit, prosecutors returned to the grand jury anyway, and Boutros appeared in court to urge charges. A judge subsequently concluded that prosecutors behaved improperly before the grand jury. Boutros told the court he was unaware of the problems. DePodesta’s complaint says Boutros knew about them and that his remarks were intentionally false.

Boutros had publicly denied that politics shaped the charges. His office said he had not communicated with Justice Department headquarters about the case. DePodesta disputes this and says he attended two meetings where Boutros discussed the activists with department officials, including Patel and Blanche. The suit also suggests the US attorney’s office faced pressure to charge Kat Abughazaleh, who was then running for Congress.

Blame, resignation and the claims in the lawsuit

The suit alleges that after the case collapsed, Boutros began blaming DePodesta inside the department to shift attention from his own conduct. It says Boutros wrongly claimed DePodesta had worked with his sister-in-law, Nancy DePodesta, a defense lawyer who represented one of the defendants. DePodesta says he did not discuss the case with her. According to the suit, senior FBI officials backed him but were pressured to push him out.

DePodesta had been with the FBI since 2002 and resigned in July. The FBI later posted on X about his departure. The lawsuit calls that post a false and defamatory explanation of his removal. Legal claims in the filing include defamation, and allege that his fair-process and free-expression rights were breached.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department, Boutros and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment. DePodesta’s attorneys did not immediately respond either. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, DePodesta said Americans should know what their government is doing, adding that fear would not keep him quiet.

The Guardian also reports that leaders appointed by Trump at the Justice Department nationwide have drawn criticism for bringing weak cases that often collapse. The complaint also says that only about 6% of cases Boutros brought against anti-ICE protesters during the operation produced a finding of guilt, which it describes as an unprecedented failure rate for his office.

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Sources

• The Guardian: Ex-FBI chief in Chicago sues DoJ, claiming he was pressured to investigate Trump’s foes

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