The Trump administration agreed Friday not to publicly release the names of FBI agents who played a role in investigations tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack without providing two days' notice.

Sixteen FBI agents who worked on the probes sued the government soon after the agency’s Tuesday deadline to turn over responses to a survey about employees’ work on the more than 1,500 cases stemming from the riot. They claimed the review laid the groundwork for retaliation following President Trump’s vows for retribution against his perceived political enemies.

“Once this happens, if this happens, the damage is irreparable,” Margaret Donovan, an attorney for the FBI agents, said during a hearing Thursday.

As part of the agreement, the Justice Department (DOJ) said the government would not disseminate the list of names to the public “directly or indirectly” pending the outcome of the lawsuits without giving two days' notice, at which point attorneys for the FBI agents could argue for a temporary block on its ability to do so.

The deal was not easily reached.

Justice Department lawyers on Thursday insisted that the DOJ itself had not authorized the public release of the names and had no plan to, nor had it given a formal go-ahead to share the list of names with other government entities.

But when asked to represent that other........

© The Hill