A former FBI employee has sued the agency, Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, claiming he was unjustly fired for displaying an LGBTQ Pride flag at his desk.
David Maltinsky filed the suit in Washington D.C.’s federal district court on Wednesday, alleging that his First and Fifth Amendment rights were violated, according to a press release issued by his attorney. He is requesting that the court return him to his job and compensate him for lost wages.
Maltinsky, a longtime FBI employee, was fired in early October while training to become an FBI special agent in Quantico, Virginia.
Patel terminated him due to an “inappropriate display of political signage.” The sole signage at Maltinsky’s work station was a rainbow Pride flag, according to the release.
“David’s dream was to serve our country as an FBI Special Agent,” Christopher Mattei, his attorney, said in the release. “When that dream was cruelly taken from him, he stayed true to his oath and is now fighting to protect the rights of all Americans.”
When contacted by The Independent, representatives for the FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment.
Maltinsky first joined the agency in 2009, following an internship at the Los Angeles Field Office.
He embarked on a career investigating cybercrime and public corruption, earning multiple awards for his service, including the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Service in Diversity and Inclusion.
In 2025, he was accepted into the FBI Special Agent Training Academy in Virginia. In June, he cleared out his work station in Los Angeles — including the Pride flag — and relocated to the East Coast, according to The Wall Street Journal, which obtained a copy of the lawsuit.
At some point after President Donald Trump returned to office, a bureau employee reported concerns about displaying the Pride flag to his supervisor. Maltinsky’s supervisor and another official said the flag was allowed, according to the suit.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to crack down on “woke” ideology in and out of government.
However, after relocating to Virginia, and just three weeks prior to his graduation, Maltinsky was fired.
He received a letter signed by Patel that said he was dismissed from the program and federal service and “exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage” at his previous assignment, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“I displayed that Pride flag – which in 2021 flew in front of the Wilshire Federal Building – not as a political statement, but as a symbol of inclusion, unity, and equal service,” Maltinsky said in the release. “These are the values that once made the FBI strong.”
When he received the news of his dismissal, he sent a message to his trainee class group chat.
“I have loved working here and getting to know you over the past 16 weeks,” he wrote, according to The New York Times. “My chapter here may be over but yours is just beginning. Stay strong. Be the future leaders of the F.B.I. I know you are and what the people deserve.”
Maltinsky is not alone in being dismissed over his perceived political beliefs. Under Patel’s leadership, dozens of FBI employees deemed opposed to Trump or conservatism have been fired, The Independent previously reported.
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