When the FBI fired five veteran agents earlier this month, Director Kash Patel offered no explanation.

Shock at the firings has continued to reverberate through the storied agency. And now, details are emerging about the possible motivation, several sources close to the agents tell CBS News.

"There is a despicable purge underway of senior FBI officials, all of whom have risen in their careers as nonpartisan, and who have been targeted for vindictive, political purposes," said Mark Zaid, a whistleblower attorney who represents a number of federal workers dismissed under President Trump.

Without any public comment from FBI or Justice Department officials, the agents, including, Brian Driscoll, who served for a short time as acting director at the start of the Trump administration,

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