Douglas DePodesta says he was made ‘scapegoat’ after collapse of case against Broadview Six anti-ICE protesters

The former head of the FBI in Chicago has accused the Trump administration of pressuring him to investigate the president’s political opponents and making him a “scapegoat” after a major federal case against anti-ICE protesters fell apart.

Douglas DePodesta, who served as FBI special agent in charge from 2024 until July 2026, alleged in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had engaged in “misconduct” and “malfeasance” in its pursuit of unjust prosecutions – and that he was wrongly blamed for the DoJ’s missteps and unlawfully forced out of his job.

The suit names Kash Patel, the FBI director; Todd Blanche, the attorney general; and Andrew Boutros, the US attorney who leads the DoJ’s Chicago office.