Ex-FBI Chicago chief sues DOJ, says he was squeezed to target Trump's foes

Douglas DePodesta didn't go quietly. The former head of the FBI's Chicago office filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the Trump administration of pushing him to investigate the president's political enemies — and then hanging him out to dry when the cases blew up. The suit names FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney Andrew Boutros, who runs the Justice Department's Chicago office.

At the center of it all: Operation Midway Blitz, ICE's aggressive crackdown on Chicago, and the spectacular collapse of the case against six activists who protested an ICE facility in suburban Broadview in September 2025. The group, known as the Broadview Six, was charged with conspiracy to impede an ICE officer. Prosecutors had to drop it after months of missteps — including a grand jury that initially rejected the charges, a rarity given how low the bar is for indictments.

DePodesta says Boutros repeatedly demanded FBI investigations into people whose politics opposed the Trump administration, according to the complaint. In one instance, the suit alleges, Boutros turned hostile when the FBI refused to sign an affidavit claiming a protester assaulted an officer — video showed only incidental contact from an agent tackling the protester. The suit also claims the US attorney's office was pressured to charge Kat Abughazaleh, then an activist running for Congress.

When a judge found prosecutors had committed misconduct in the grand jury proceedings, Boutros told the court he was unaware of any problems. DePodesta's suit says that was intentionally false. After the case crumbled, the complaint alleges, Boutros went hunting for a scapegoat — blaming DePodesta to superiors in Washington, even falsely accusing him of conspiring with his sister-in-law, defense lawyer Nancy DePodesta, who represented one of the Broadview Six. Senior FBI officials backed DePodesta, the suit says, but were pressured to push him out anyway.

He resigned in July after more than two decades at the bureau. When news of his departure circulated, the FBI's account on X.com posted that anyone not on board with 'THIS FBI under the leadership of President Trump … is free to leave.' The lawsuit calls that a false and defamatory explanation of his removal, and alleges defamation along with violations of his due process and free speech rights.

DePodesta isn't staying quiet. 'The American people need to know what is happening within their government,' he told the Chicago Sun-Times. 'I will not let fear silence me.' His attorneys, along with spokespeople for the DOJ, Boutros and the FBI, didn't immediately respond to inquiries. The suit also points to a striking stat: only about 6% of Boutros's anti-ICE protest cases from Operation Midway Blitz ended in a finding of guilt — what the filing calls an unprecedented failure rate.