Two veteran FBI counter-terrorism leaders, Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae, were reportedly removed from their Washington roles and reassigned to headquarters after questioning a proposed threat assessment involving alleged harassing calls to Katie Miller, the wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller. The reported demotions matter because they have raised questions about whether the investigation was legally justified and whether the agents were penalised for challenging it, although FBI officials deny the decision was ordered by Director Kash Patel.

Reports say a team reviewing the calls concluded they did not meet the threshold for an FBI investigation. Washington field-office officials said the personnel decision reflected operational needs and other factors, while a White House official claimed the agents had impeded investigations into serious threats; the official also said the Millers had not met them. Burgwald is a former West Point graduate who received a national-security award, and Rae worked on the Boston Marathon bombing case.