The FBI has fired about 20 agents who were controversially photographed kneeling with demonstrators during a summer 2020 BLM protest in Washington, D.C., following the death of George Floyd, who died while in Minneapolis police custody.
Some of the FBI agents assigned to protect federal monuments and buildings in the nation's capital during the BLM riots said they kneeled to the mob out of fear of a possible violent confrontation.
The recent dismissals came at the end of a review by the FBI’s Inspection Division and following recommendations from the bureau’s general counsel’s office, reported CNN.
As many as 20 agents were terminated, including about 15 associated with the kneeling incident, sources told CNN.
The bureau had previously reassigned the same agents involved in the incident back in April, after pressure from the White House, sources told the Associated Press.
When President Donald Trump ordered then-Attorney General Bill Barr to regain control of the streets of D.C. in summer 2020, Barr had federal agencies deploy agents to help with crowd control and to protect federal buildings.
FBI leadership at the time complained that agents were generally not trained to do crowd control and that their deployment would inflame tensions, but the agents still obeyed orders.
The kneeling agents echoed the actions of deployed National Guardsmen in D.C. who kneeled as a way to deescalate tensions during a similar confrontation, causing rioters to move on.
Senior officials under then-FBI Director Christopher Wray previously reviewed the agents' actions and determined that, under the circumstances, they had not violated any official policies.
However, the kneeling incident caused an uproar within the FBI and was also severely criticized by many retired agents.
When Trump returned to the White House, FBI officials reopened their assessment of the incident, leading to the agents' reassignments, which were viewed as demotions by many inside the agency
The new FBI leadership under FBI Director Kash Patel has been acting to remove “woke” and politicized elements inside the agency at the orders of President Trump.
The Justice Department has been reviewing the conduct of more than 1,500 agents associated with politicized cases during Trump's first term and during the Biden Administration, including those who conspired to harm the president and his supporters.
Two senior FBI officials, Brian Driscoll, who was acting FBI director in the weeks before Kash Patel's confirmation, and Steve Jensen, the acting director in charge of the Washington Field Office, were fired in August.
Driscoll attempted to resist the incoming Trump Administration’s effort to gather the names of the FBI agents who were involved with the January 6, 2021, Capitol protests.
The FBI recently admitted that around 250 FBI agents were placed in the crowd during the January 6 protests.
“It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax. This is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again! That’s right, as it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as “Law Enforcement Officials,” Trump posted on Truth Social September 27.
"I want to know who each and every one of these so-called 'Agents' are, and what they were up to on that now 'Historic' Day. Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their Country. I owe this investigation of 'Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians' to them! Christopher Wray, the then Director of the FBI, has some major explaining to do. That’s two in a row, Comey and Wray, who got caught LYING, with our Great Country at stake. WE CAN NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN TO AMERICA AGAIN!,” Trump added.
The FBI Agents Association, in a statement to CNN, criticized Patel’s decision and said the dismissals “violate the due process rights” of the terminated agents.
“Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the Bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce, and make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents—ultimately putting our nation at greater risk,” the association said.
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