Top FBI official in New York retires after Trump administration's order

The FBI's highest-ranking official in New York City has stepped down under pressure, following scrutiny over a Trump administration directive, according to a CBS report.

James Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's largest field office, confirmed his departure in an email to colleagues, saying he was instructed Friday to submit his retirement papers by Monday, the report said Monday.

"I was not given a reason for this decision," he wrote.

Dennehy's exit follows controversy surrounding a recent order from the Trump administration, which required the FBI to compile a list of over 5,000 agents and employees involved in investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Last month, Dennehy criticized the move in a message to his New York-based colleagues, writing that "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."

Dennehy, who joined the FBI in 2002, was appointed to lead the New York office in 2024.

On Jan. 6, 2021, near the end of President Donald Trump's first White House term, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, in which incoming President Joe Biden was the winner. The attack led to multiple deaths, injuries, and arrests, prompting congressional investigations and federal prosecutions.