By CHARLIE SAVAGE NYTimes News Service
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Two anonymous sets of FBI agents and employees filed lawsuits Tuesday seeking to prevent the Trump administration from releasing the identities of agents and staff members who participated in the investigations into the Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021.

The lawsuits came in response to a demand by Emil Bove, the acting deputy attorney general, that the FBI compile and turn over a list of everyone who worked on those cases. That group, the lawsuits estimated, could number as many as 6,000 agents.

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The lawsuits said that the agents believed the administration intended to reveal their identities, exposing the agents and their families to profound danger. They seek court orders prohibiting the executive branch from releasing the names.

The Trump administration has not said it intends to release the identities of the law enforcement officials, but its demand for names of people who worked on the cases has stoked the belief that it may move to fire them en masse. The information the FBI provided Tuesday identified employees by their workplace IDs, their title at the time of the relevant investigation or prosecution, and the date of the last action related to the investigation, among other details, but not their names.

At the Justice Department, prosecutors who have worked on cases involving President Donald Trump or the Jan. 6 rioters have been dismissed. The lawsuits Tuesday appear to be putting down a marker that could expand into a challenge to any mass firings if they happen.

“It is clear that the threatened disclosure is a prelude to an unlawful purge of the FBI driven solely by the Trump administration’s vengeful and political motivations,” Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the FBI Agents Association, said in a statement. “Releasing the names of these agents would ignite a firestorm of harassment towards them and their families, and it must be stopped immediately.”