The top FBI agent in New York was ousted Monday, saying he wasn’t given any explanation for the decision from Washington.
James Dennehy, a US Marine Corps veteran who joined the bureau after the Sept. 11 attacks, announced his forced resignation in a letter to staffers at the FBI’s New York Field Office.
“Late Friday, I was informed that I needed to put my retirement papers in today, which I just did. I was not given a reason for this decision,” he wrote in the missive, obtained by ABC News and other outlets.
Dennehy apologized for the abruptness of his resignation in the letter, in which he called his colleagues “an office of professionals who will always do the right thing for the right reasons.”
His departure marks the latest in a recent exodus from the bureau under the Trump administration.
Dennehy had a high-profile battle with acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove last month, penning a defiant email to staffers urging them to “dig in” after officials tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol were forced out of their roles.
“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” the email read in part.
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