FBI Director Kash Patel has fired as many as eight agents connected to the bureau's investigations of President Donald Trump, MS Now reported.
The FBI's special agent in charge in Atlanta was removed, along with the acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office, according to two people familiar with the matter.
A former special agent in charge in New Orleans who had recently moved to another position was also pushed out, along with as many as six agents in Miami.
Patel on Thursday shared a picture of what he said was a "self-awarded" trophy made by former FBI officials to celebrate Operation Arctic Frost, an inquiry launched after the 2020 election targeting Trump and his allies.
"People ask why I said the old FBI was a diseased temple. This is what corruption looks like when it thinks no one is watching: A self-awarded trophy celebrating Arctic Frost, made by FBI officials," Patel said.
"I disbanded CR-15 and removed the corrupt actors involved. So, when legacy media cries that President Trump's FBI fired people and made sweeping changes, I have one response: You're damn right we did."
Operation Arctic Frost was an FBI investigation tied to classified documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, focusing on how national security materials were handled and whether government officials or others improperly influenced the probe.
The operation's existence was first publicly revealed in 2023 through filings in federal court and statements by prosecutors.
The name refers internally to a phase of evidence review and coordination with the Department of Justice rather than a traditional law-enforcement sweep.
Trump in January called for the removal of FBI "scum."
"These FBI Agents are total Scum, in their own way no better than the insurrectionists in Portland, Minnesota, Los Angeles, etc. Kash better get them out, NOW! Radical Left Lunatics put in by the 'Auto Pen' and Obama!" he wrote in a Truth Social post accompanied by a news report detailing the role of a former FBI official in reportedly advancing the Arctic Frost investigation.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.