By Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz

(CNN) — The acting deputy attorney general accused FBI leadership of “insubordination” by refusing to identify a “core team” of bureau employees who worked on January 6 investigations, while trying to assure that rank-and-file agents who “simply followed orders” will not be fired unless they “acted with corrupt or partisan intent,” according to a copy of a memo obtained by CNN.

The memo emailed on Wednesday from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove is the first time that the Justice Department has indicated that the thousands of agents who worked on January 6-related investigations will not be fired en masse.

However, Bove does not rule out that some could still face consequences, including termination or other penalties.

“Let me be clear: No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties,” the email reads.

“The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI,” Bove added.

Last week, Bove, who represented Trump his New York state criminal hush money trial before being tapped to work at the Justice Department, sent a memo to the FBI instructing them to provide the information about all current and former bureau employees who “at any time” worked on January 6 investigations. The message quickly became a point of contention and sparked two lawsuits that aimed to stop the Justice Department from collecting or releasing any of the information they gathered, saying that its release would put FBI employees in danger.

Still, the bureau handed over the details of more than 5,000 FBI agents and employees who worked on investigations related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, CNN reported Tuesday. Those details included employee ID numbers, job titles and their role in the January 6 investigations, sources said, but not their names.

On Wednesday, FBI Agents Association President Natalie Bara told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” that while Bove’s attempt to assure agents was “a step in the right direction,” the group still needed “confirmation of what they’re planning to do with this.”

Bove addressed the controversy in his email Wednesday, saying, “There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public from the excellent work being done every day.”

In describing how the memo last week came about, Bove said that he asked FBI leadership “multiple times” to identify a “core team” of bureau employees who had worked on January 6 investigations because the Justice Department wanted to conduct a narrow review of their work.

But, he said, FBI acting leadership refused to comply, and led the Justice Department to request a sweeping set information from all current and former agents or employees who touched Capitol riot investigations.

“That insubordination necessitated, among other things, the directive in my January 31, 2025 memo to identify all agents assigned to investigations relating to January 6, 2021,” Bove says in the email. “In light of acting leadership’s refusal to comply with the narrower request, the written directive was intended to obtain a complete data set that the Justice Department can reliably pare down to the core team that will be the focus of the weaponization review pursuant to the Executive Order.”

Since Trump was sworn in last month, the Justice Department has taken an aggressive approach to push out or sideline employees who they perceive as participating in the “weaponization” of law enforcement. Those moves have involved firings agents and prosecutors who worked on cases related to Trump and January 6.

Department leadership has also reassigned at least 20 high-level, career positions in the criminal division, as well as the national security division, which in the past has been insulated from shifting political winds, and prosecutors who work on international affairs, which handles extraditions and immigration matters.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.

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