USA26 September, 20262 min read
FBI Demotes Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae Over Katie Miller Harassing Calls
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Two senior FBI counterterrorism officials, Burgwald and Rae, were demoted and reassigned. Demotions followed disputes over the handling of threats to Katie Miller.
FBI Demotes Two Leaders
The FBI demoted and reassigned special agent in charge of counterterrorism operations at the FBI's Washington field office Michael Burgwald and his assistant Courtland Rae after a dispute over how the bureau handled an investigation into alleged harassing phone calls directed at the spouse of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Katie Miller. The Washington field office's counterterrorism division was tasked with evaluating threats posed by an individual suspected of making harassing calls to Miller's spouse, Katie Miller, and the FBI acknowledged the reassignments on Saturday.
A retired FBI official said, "Harassing phone calls aren’t even in the ballpark of terrorism unless an actual terrorist is doing the dialing," and investigators determined the allegedly harassing phone calls did not warrant further investigation. The field office team that reviewed the reported harassing calls determined they did not meet the threshold required for an FBI investigation, and no nexus to terrorism was identified, according to two people familiar with the move.
Competing Explanations
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said senior leadership at the FBI determined the agents were stifling investigations into very serious threats and made a unilateral decision to remove them. Darren Cox insisted the demotions did not come from senior leadership, and he said, "This was a personnel decision made at the Washington field office level alone based on our constant evaluation of mission needs."
CNN reported that FBI director Kash Patel has fired, demoted, or forced into retirement countless career employees who handled past investigations into Trump and his allies, and it said the decision riled many rank and file FBI employees who viewed personnel moves as highly politicized. The Daily Beast said Burgwald and his deputy were demoted and reassigned to positions at FBI headquarters on Friday, and it quoted Cox saying, "Director Patel did not order this decision."
Who Gets Reassigned
The FBI reassigned Burgwald and Rae to headquarters rather than firing them, and Bloomberg Law said the two counterterrorism leaders were demoted and sent to bureau headquarters Friday. Bloomberg Law said the head of the FBI Washington Field Office’s counterterrorism division, responsible for Middle East threats, and his deputy were removed after frustration shared by the Miller family that the field office was moving slowly in probing allegedly harassing phone messages left with prominent conservative podcaster Katie Miller.
The Independent said the Millers moved into military housing after a number of threats were allegedly made against them, and it quoted Lauren Bis saying, "The Millers did not relocate because of protests." MS NOW said Burgwald had already drawn the ire of FBI Director Kash Patel over a series of disagreements, and it described the final straw as the Washington field office’s counterterrorism section being asked to conduct a threat assessment on a person believed to have been making harassing phone calls to Katie Miller.