The editors of Lawfare blog have sued the Trump administration to force them to release the results of this year’s annual FBI climate survey.

Scott Anderson and Benjamin Wittes, who is a friend of former FBI Director James Comey James Brien ComeyDemocrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate Book: FBI sex crimes investigator helped trigger October 2016 public probe of Clinton emails Trump jabs at FBI director over testimony on Russia, antifa MORE, sued the administration on Friday after they failed to initially release the results of the survey, Talking Points Memo reported.

The men had initially requested the documents under the Freedom of Information Act in April but filed the lawsuit after the federal government didn't hand over the information in the timeframe required by law.

ADVERTISEMENT

The anonymous annual "climate survey" gauges employee's feelings about the agencies and was conducted from February to March, according to the report.

The lawsuit argues that there is a high level of interest in the survey results due to President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's repeated attacks on top FBI officials and the bureau itself.

Trump, who fired Comey last year, has claimed that the FBI’s reputation is “in tatters” and recently called Comey a “slimeball” ahead of the release of former director’s book, which was highly critical of Trump.

“The FBI faced many challenges over the past year, following President Trump’s decision to fire Director Comey,” the lawsuit states. “The President and his allies have accused specific FBI personnel of skewing investigative results, abusing surveillance authorities, and engaging in a vendetta against the President. The President has also repeatedly attacked the integrity of the FBI and its agents on Twitter.”

The court documents also note that the FBI has released the results of the survey each year from 2013 to 2017, and that last year’s results contradicted Trump’s claim that the bureau was “in turmoil.”

Last year's survey showed that FBI agents gave Comey high marks, despite Trump's claims that the former director had lost the support of his staff.

Current and former FBI officials told The New York Times last year that Trump's attacks on the agency were hurting morale.