FBI employment attorney 'liked' LinkedIn posts backing lawsuits against the bureau

A high-ranking attorney for the FBI who handles employment cases has apparently "liked" multiple posts on LinkedIn disparaging the firing of FBI agents, including at least two posts implying lawsuits against the Bureau.

Monica Hansen is a supervisory attorney at the Department of Justice and has been in her current position for nearly three years, according to her LinkedIn profile. During that time, she has liked at least a dozen posts heavily critical of the FBI’s firing of agents and two from the FBI Agents Association saying it is “reviewing all legal options to defend our members” from those firings.

As an attorney handling employment cases at the Bureau, Hansen could possibly be one of the attorneys who would need to defend the Bureau from the FBI Agents Association’s lawsuit, presenting a clear conflict of interest.

"This FBI attorney violates her ethical duties to her client when she publicly supports the legal opponents of her client. She must get shown the door,” said Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, a conservative nonprofit that fights leftist lawfare.

Hansen's posts were still publicly visible as of Wednesday afternoon. Hansen also liked posts harshly condemning last year’s mass firing at the FBI, including a post calling the firings “appalling.”

Hansen also appears to have liked posts from three fired FBI agents who went on to sue the Bureau for an alleged “campaign of retribution” against them for not being sufficiently loyal, Reuters reported on the lawsuit. Before the lawsuit was filed, Hansen liked and supported posts from Spencer Evans and Brian Driscoll, two of the FBI agents involved in the lawsuit, and one about Steven Jensen, the third person included in the lawsuit.

Evans’ post was innocuous, simply stating that when “I started the week, I didn’t know Friday would be my last day in the FBI” and writing positively about his co-workers. 

In a liked post about Steven Jensen, retired FBI agent Clay Hicks defended Jensen’s character and added that “[t]here are hundreds of ‘leaders’ within the FBI who deserve to be terminated for any number of reasons.” He also said that using Jensen “as an example and the face of government corruption is abhorrent and a LIE.”

Hansen liked a post from former FBI executive Kyle Vowinkel criticizing attempts “to pressure acting top leadership […] Director Brian Driscoll, could prove to be a serious miscalculation.” Driscoll was eventually fired and has sued the Bureau along with Evans and Jensen.

Hansen also liked a post from the National Law Journal about lawsuits against the Trump administration

And a post from retired FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner criticizing the mass firings of January 6th investigators.

That post related to a lawsuit brought by Norm Eisen and Mark Zaid, two anti-Trump attorneys who sued the Trump administration to block the release of the names of FBI agents who investigated the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. The two succeeded in blocking the release, though it was never clear the names were going to be released in the first place.

Avoiding an appearance of a conflict

Bud Cummins, a former U.S. attorney in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, told Just the News that the standard for public officials is to “keep her personal opinions private to avoid an appearance of a conflict.”

“This is the normal course of conduct for public officials, attorneys and especially for judges, so they can pretend to not have personal or political opinions. The problem is, most of them do have opinions, so you have to wonder how we are best served by allowing them to pretend otherwise,” he added. “Maybe she did us all a favor. Maybe we are better off understanding where her personal sentiments lie. Now, in light of her transparent expression of her opinions, her supervisors can fairly evaluate whether she is suited to effectively represent the agency at least regarding these specific issues.”

Hansen is the head of the FBI's employment law division, making it difficult to keep her away from the lawsuits specifically targeting the Bureau's employment decisions. Hansen did not respond to a Just the News inquiry prior to press time.

Hansen isn’t the only high-ranking FBI official to like inappropriate posts. In April, Just the News reported that FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia had liked a post from an ex-FBI agent who was fired by the Trump administration — now running for Congress. Raia received no disclosed discipline for the social media "like" and merely deleted the interactions after an inquiry from Just the News.