Ex-Chicago FBI chief sues DOJ, claims he was ousted over failed anti-ICE prosecutions

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The former chief of the FBI's Chicago field office said he was forced out of his job after he says he was wrongly blamed for the failed prosecution of six people who protested against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Windy City, according to a lawsuit he filed on Monday.

Douglas DePodesta sued top Justice Department officials, alleging that federal prosecutors pushed "politically motivated prosecutions" against Chicago demonstrators before gathering evidence, according to the lawsuit. He said his superiors notified him that FBI Director Kash Patel pushed for his ouster before he was forced to resign over the summer.

"I saw the writing on the wall," DePodesta told The Associated Press.

DePodesta accused the top federal prosecutor in Illinois, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros, of launching a "campaign" within the DOJ to blame him after the so-called "Broadview Six" case fell apart earlier this year.

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Douglas DePodesta sued top Justice Department officials, alleging that federal prosecutors pushed "politically motivated prosecutions" against Chicago demonstrators before gathering evidence. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Hours after the lawsuit was filed, U.S. District Judge April Perry ordered Boutros and three of his assistant attorneys to testify under oath on Nov. 16 in the failed "Broadview Six" case.

"There is more than an adequate factual basis for the Court to pursue an inquiry as to whether willful false statements were made to the court," Perry wrote in the order.

Federal prosecutors brought charges against roughly 30 protesters during the federal immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, but many of those charges have since been dropped or dismissed.

DePodesta’s lawsuit alleges that Boutros faced pressure from the DOJ throughout the immigration crackdown to slap protesters with felony charges.

"Boutros sent DePodesta emails demanding that DePodesta open FBI investigations into individuals with political views or affiliations in opposition to the Trump administration," DePodesta’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.

Boutros often pressured assistant U.S. attorneys to press charges "before investigating the objective evidence," according to the lawsuit, which says he wanted felony charges when assistant U.S. attorneys "favored misdemeanors or no charges at all."

Douglas DePodesta accused U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros of launching a "campaign" within the DOJ to blame him after the so-called "Broadview Six" case fell apart earlier this year. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Last October, Boutros charged six people with conspiring to obstruct a federal officer, a felony, in connection with their actions during a protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.

Grand jury transcripts later turned over to the court showed that grand jurors twice declined to indict the six people as prosecutors sought charges, according to The Associated Press. Boutros dropped all charges against the six people in May as the court moved to investigate possible prosecutorial misconduct.

Boutros "repeatedly complained to his superiors in Washington" that the failure was DePodesta's fault "to deflect attention from his own malfeasance," DePodesta's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

DePodesta denied Boutros’ claims to his superiors at the FBI, and they conceded that he was only being forced out of his job due to the "political pressure Boutros created," according to the suit.

The complaint alleges Boutros told DOJ leadership that DePodesta and his sister-in-law, Nancy DePodesta, who is an attorney representing one of the six former defendants, "conspired to destroy" the case.

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Douglas DePodesta said his superiors notified him that FBI Director Kash Patel pushed for his ouster before he was forced to resign over the summer. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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"There is no one at the FBI who took their oath of office and their ethical and moral responsibilities more seriously than Doug," Nancy DePodesta said in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that it is "both heartbreaking and shameful that he was forced out of his position based on what appear to be utterly false rumors spread by" Boutros.

In September, one of the prosecutors on the "Broadview Six" case abruptly resigned, writing in a resignation letter that Boutros had "scapegoated and publicly vilified" her. She filed a motion asking the court to treat her as an independent party moving forward.

The former defendants have asked the judge to appoint a special counsel to probe possible misconduct by prosecutors. At an Oct. 1 hearing, Perry ordered further "fact-finding" about communications between Boutros’ office and DOJ leadership.

Boutros has previously denied that politics played a role in charging decisions.