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Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the firings of the Jan. 6 prosecutors days after President Donald Trump's聽聽benefiting the more than 1,500 people charged in the U.S. Capitol attack, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. About two dozen employees at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington were terminated, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot 鈥� a list the bureau鈥檚 acting director said could number in the thousands.

Bove, who defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, said Justice Department officials would then carry out a 鈥渞eview process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.鈥�

鈥淎s we've said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what's in the best interest of the workforce and the American people 鈥� always,鈥� acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll wrote in a letter to the workforce.

The prosecutors fired in the D.C. U.S. attorney's office were hired for temporary assignments to support the Jan. 6 cases, but were moved into permanent roles after Trump's presidential win in November, according to the memo obtained by the AP. Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, said he would not 鈥渢olerate subversive personnel actions by the previous administration."

Any mass firings at the FBI would be a major blow to the historic independence from the White House of the nation鈥檚 premier federal law enforcement agency but would be in keeping with Trump鈥檚 persistent resolve to bend the law enforcement and intelligence community to his will. It would be part of a pattern of retribution waged on federal government employees, following the forced ousters of a group of senior FBI executives earlier this week as well as a broad termination by the Justice Department of prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith鈥檚 team who聽.

The FBI Agents Association said the reported efforts to oust agents represented 鈥渙utrageous actions by acting officials" that were "fundamentally at odds with the law enforcement objectives outlined by President Trump and his support for FBI Agents.鈥�

鈥淒ismissing potentially hundreds of Agents would severely weaken the Bureau鈥檚 ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure,鈥� the association said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what recourse fired agents might take, but the bureau has a well-defined process for terminations and any abrupt action that bypasses that protocol could presumably open the door to a legal challenge.

, Trump鈥檚 pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, said he was not aware of any plans to terminate or otherwise punish FBI employees who were involved in the Trump investigations. Patel said if he was confirmed he would follow the FBI鈥檚 internal review processes for taking action against employees.

Asked by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker whether he would reverse any decisions before his confirmation that don鈥檛 follow that standard process, Patel said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on right now over there, but I鈥檓 committed to you, senator, and your colleagues, that I will honor the due process of the FBI.鈥�

Before he was nominated for the director鈥檚 position,聽聽about what he called anti-Trump 鈥渃onspirators鈥� in the government and news media who he said needed to be rooted out.

Trump for years expressed fury at the FBI and Justice Department over investigations that shadowed his presidency, including an inquiry into ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign, and continued over the last four years. He fired one FBI director, James Comey, amid the Russia investigation and then聽聽just weeks after his win in November.

Asked at the White House on Friday if he had anything to do with the scrutiny of the agents, he said: 鈥淣o, but we have some very bad people over there. It was weaponized at a level that nobody鈥檚 never seen before. They came after a lot of people 鈥� like me聽鈥� but they came after a lot of people.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚f they fired some people over there, that鈥檚 a good thing, because they were very bad.鈥�

The FBI and Smith鈥檚 team investigated Trump over his聽聽loss to Democrat Joe Biden and Trump's聽聽at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both of those cases resulted in indictments that were withdrawn after Trump鈥檚 November presidential win because of longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the federal prosecution of a sitting president.

The Justice Department also charged聽聽in the Capitol riot, though Trump on his first day in office聽聽to all of them 鈥� including the ones convicted of violent crimes 鈥� through pardons, sentence commutations and dismissals of indictments.

This week, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on Smith investigations, and a group of senior FBI executives 鈥� including several executive assistant directors and agents in charge of big-city field offices 鈥� have been told to either resign or retire or be fired Monday.

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Michael Kunzelman, Byron Tau and Jim Mustian contributed to this report.