Steny Hoyer

A senior F.B.I. official who was pushed out by the Trump administration last year is expected to announce on Monday that he is running for Congress in Maryland, portraying himself as a champion of the rule of law who wants to hold President Trump accountable.

David Sundberg, 56, oversaw the F.B.I.’s Washington Field Office from January 2023 until January 2025, when the Trump administration forced him and seven other senior leaders to resign. The move, days after Mr. Trump was sworn in, proved to be the first in a series of purges.

In an interview, Mr. Sundberg said he had decided to run for Congress as he grew dismayed at how President Trump was directing the F.B.I. and Justice Department to investigate and prosecute his perceived political enemies.

“I’m running to uphold the oath I took at the beginning of my career — an oath that didn’t change when the Trump administration forced me out of the federal government,” he said. “During that career, I worked to ensure that no one was above the law. And over the last year, we’ve seen some terrible abuses against the people of the United States.”

In his year out of government, Mr. Sundberg said he helped other law enforcement officials who were fired or left under pressure, connecting them with lawyers and services that would scrub the internet of personal information and assist with security, “because of the increased levels of political violence.”

Mr. Sundberg, a former member of the F.B.I.’s Hostage Rescue Team, which frequently deploys overseas, has mostly lived in the greater Washington area since 2005. He moved to North Beach, in Maryland’s Fifth District, in 2024, he said.

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