FBI Director Kash Patel last week fired a senior intelligence analyst who played a role in the FBI’s 2017 assessment of the motives of the gunman who attacked a House Republican baseball practice, a report that drew the ire of the GOP because it did not label the incident as domestic terrorism.

Four people familiar with the matter said Deputy Assistant Director Emily Morales received a letter from Patel on Friday ending her FBI employment, after which she turned in her badge and was “walked out” by FBI security, as is standard practice.

Morales could not be reached for comment. 

It was unclear whether the letter cited her role in the 2017 assessment, but the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a personnel matter, said her removal was widely perceived inside the bureau as the latest in a series of firings of nonpartisan FBI agents who did their jobs in a way that drew disfavor from President Donald Trump or Republicans.  

MS NOW reported five months ago that Tonya Ugoretz, who was the assistant director in charge of the Intelligence Directorate, was removed because of her role in withdrawing a thinly sourced intelligence report alleging that China tried to flood the United States with fake driver’s licenses in order to promote fraud in the 2020 election.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has boasted that the FBI forced out every agent who worked on the criminal investigations of Trump that resulted in indictments. Former acting director Brian Driscoll and other former agents are suing the bureau and Patel, alleging they were fired for political reasons. The FBI Agents Association has asserted that many of these firings were illegal.

The FBI declined to comment on personnel matters.

In June 2017, James Hodgkinson opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, shooting four people, including two Capitol Police officers and Congressman Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was shot and killed by police.

Although he had a history of criticizing Republicans and was carrying a list of Republican lawmakers in his pocket, the FBI initially did not label Hodgkinson a domestic terrorist. An FBI official briefing Congress described what happened as “suicide by cop,” according to a report by House Republicans issued last March.

In 2021, the FBI provided a statement to the House Appropriations Committee which read, “The shooter was motivated by a desire to commit an attack on Members of Congress. … This conduct is something that we would today characterize as a domestic terrorism event.”

Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray explained to Congress that the incident did not fit the FBI’s definition of domestic terrorism at the time, but that the definition had evolved.

The report by House Republicans was deeply critical of the FBI, saying, “The FBI case file makes clear this case was a premeditated assassination attempt on Republican congressmen by a radical, left-wing political extremist, who was seeking to affect the conduct of our government.”

In a statement to MS NOW, Ugoretz lamented Morales’ firing. 

“Tactical reports give an understanding of information as it’s known at the time. Anyone with crisis response experience knows that information can change, and usually does,” she said. 

“The FBI’s actions are choking the capabilities that help it stop criminals, spies, hackers, and terrorists before they act. I don’t know if they’re doing it intentionally or out of ignorance, and I don’t know which is worse,” Ugoretz said.

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