FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 George Floyd protests
The Washington Post (archive.ph)
By Jeremy Roebuck
2025-09-27 04:32:12GMT
FBI personnel take a knee as demonstrators march on D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue on June 4, 2020, to protest the death of George Floyd. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
The FBI has fired a group of agents who were photographed kneeling with protesters in Washington during the 2020 racial justice protests that erupted in response to the police killing of George Floyd, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The exact number of those dismissed remained unclear. A bureau spokesperson declined to comment.
The people familiar with the terminations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said the number of affected agents was as high as 20. Some of those agents, including some in senior roles, were reassigned earlier this year to positions considered to be demotions.
In a statement, the FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents bureau employees, noted that several of those fired were military veterans and condemned the firings as “unlawful” and part of a pattern of FBI Director Kash Patel violating the civil service protections “of those who risk their lives to protect our country.”
“Denying these rights is an egregious act,” the association said, “especially against those who have fought to defend the very freedoms now being disregarded.”
The photographs of a group of agents taking a knee during a June 4, 2020, demonstration on Pennsylvania Avenue spread widely across social media at the height of a national debate over racism and excessive police tactics. They provoked controversy within the bureau’s ranks and quickly caught the attention of conservative media.
Trump and then-Attorney General William P. Barr had deployed agents, mostly from the FBI’s Washington field office, in response to the mostly peaceful demonstrations across the nation’s capital. They said they were needed to deter rioters or vandals seeking to destroy federal property, as happened in some cities like Portland, Oregon.
But critics derided the images as what they viewed as a group of agents expressing solidarity with the protests. They pointed to the photographs as proof of a liberal bias in the FBI.
The agents’ defenders maintained that the photos depicted nothing more than bureau personnel injected into a charged atmosphere between protesters and police and attempting to do anything to de-escalate before a tense situation boiled over.
Bureau leadership reviewed the matter at the time and ultimately concluded that the agents had not violated any specific policy and that no disciplinary action was necessary. FBI agents do not typically receive riot control training.
The decision by top FBI leadership this week to reverse that finding and fire the agents comes amid a broader wave of terminations, forced departures and resignations at the FBI. Patel has vowed to root out political bias within the FBI and reshape the bureau’s workforce with a focus on combating illegal immigration and deterring violent crime.
But to many current and former agents, those efforts have amounted to what appears to be a purge of investigators viewed as “woke,” those who had been assigned to probes tied to Trump and his allies, and agents who have, for various reasons, drawn the ire of conservative commentators.
Five agents and senior bureau executives — including Brian Driscoll, the former acting FBI director during the first days of Trump’s second term — sued the bureau earlier this month, alleging they were illegally fired last month in a wave of political retribution.
Their suit contends that Patel acknowledged in conversations with some of those agents that firing bureau personnel due to the work they’d been assigned was “likely illegal.” But according to the lawsuit, Patel insisted he had no choice and that his job depended on responding to White House and Justice Department demands.
Patel has since denied taking orders on personnel from anyone at the White House or the Trump administration’s top ranks. He told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that all those he’d fired from the FBI so far had failed to meet the bureau’s standards.
In its statement Friday, the FBI Agents Association sharply challenged that claim.
“Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce,” the association said, adding those actions “make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents — ultimately putting our nation at greater risk.”
The Washington Post (archive.ph)
By Jeremy Roebuck
2025-09-27 04:32:12GMT
FBI personnel take a knee as demonstrators march on D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue on June 4, 2020, to protest the death of George Floyd. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
The FBI has fired a group of agents who were photographed kneeling with protesters in Washington during the 2020 racial justice protests that erupted in response to the police killing of George Floyd, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The exact number of those dismissed remained unclear. A bureau spokesperson declined to comment.
The people familiar with the terminations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said the number of affected agents was as high as 20. Some of those agents, including some in senior roles, were reassigned earlier this year to positions considered to be demotions.
In a statement, the FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents bureau employees, noted that several of those fired were military veterans and condemned the firings as “unlawful” and part of a pattern of FBI Director Kash Patel violating the civil service protections “of those who risk their lives to protect our country.”
“Denying these rights is an egregious act,” the association said, “especially against those who have fought to defend the very freedoms now being disregarded.”
The photographs of a group of agents taking a knee during a June 4, 2020, demonstration on Pennsylvania Avenue spread widely across social media at the height of a national debate over racism and excessive police tactics. They provoked controversy within the bureau’s ranks and quickly caught the attention of conservative media.
Trump and then-Attorney General William P. Barr had deployed agents, mostly from the FBI’s Washington field office, in response to the mostly peaceful demonstrations across the nation’s capital. They said they were needed to deter rioters or vandals seeking to destroy federal property, as happened in some cities like Portland, Oregon.
But critics derided the images as what they viewed as a group of agents expressing solidarity with the protests. They pointed to the photographs as proof of a liberal bias in the FBI.
The agents’ defenders maintained that the photos depicted nothing more than bureau personnel injected into a charged atmosphere between protesters and police and attempting to do anything to de-escalate before a tense situation boiled over.
Bureau leadership reviewed the matter at the time and ultimately concluded that the agents had not violated any specific policy and that no disciplinary action was necessary. FBI agents do not typically receive riot control training.
The decision by top FBI leadership this week to reverse that finding and fire the agents comes amid a broader wave of terminations, forced departures and resignations at the FBI. Patel has vowed to root out political bias within the FBI and reshape the bureau’s workforce with a focus on combating illegal immigration and deterring violent crime.
But to many current and former agents, those efforts have amounted to what appears to be a purge of investigators viewed as “woke,” those who had been assigned to probes tied to Trump and his allies, and agents who have, for various reasons, drawn the ire of conservative commentators.
Five agents and senior bureau executives — including Brian Driscoll, the former acting FBI director during the first days of Trump’s second term — sued the bureau earlier this month, alleging they were illegally fired last month in a wave of political retribution.
Their suit contends that Patel acknowledged in conversations with some of those agents that firing bureau personnel due to the work they’d been assigned was “likely illegal.” But according to the lawsuit, Patel insisted he had no choice and that his job depended on responding to White House and Justice Department demands.
Patel has since denied taking orders on personnel from anyone at the White House or the Trump administration’s top ranks. He told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that all those he’d fired from the FBI so far had failed to meet the bureau’s standards.
In its statement Friday, the FBI Agents Association sharply challenged that claim.
“Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce,” the association said, adding those actions “make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents — ultimately putting our nation at greater risk.”
