The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The bureau last spring had reassigned the agents but has since fired them, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters with The Associated Press.
The number of FBI employees terminated was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20.
The photographs at issue showed a group of agents taking a knee in apparent solidarity during one of the demonstrations following the May 2020 killing of Floyd, a death that led to a national reckoning over policing and racial injustice and sparked widespread anger after millions of people saw video of the arrest.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday.
The firings come amid a broader personnel purge at the bureau as Director Kash Patel works to reshape the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Five agents and top-level executives were known to have been summarily fired last month in a wave of ousters that current and former officials say has contributed to declining morale.
One of those, Steve Jensen, helped oversee investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Another, Brian Driscoll, served as acting FBI director in the early days of the Trump administration and resisted Justice Department demands to supply the names of agents who investigated Jan. 6. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call |
The FBI Agents Association called dismissals unlawful and urged Congress to investigate FBI Director Kash Patel
The FBI has fired nearly two dozen agents who were photographed kneeling amid the George Floyd protests in 2020, according to reports.
An estimated 20 agents have been dismissed, according to The Associated Press, which reported that many of those terminated had already been reassigned to lower-profile duties in the years since.
Reuters framed the number of fired agents as "more than a dozen."
The photographs at issue reportedly showed a group of agents taking a knee during one of the demonstrations in Washington, D.C., after the May 2020 killing of Floyd in Minneapolis.
Kneeling was widely used by protesters and supporters after Floyd’s death to signal sympathy with the Black Lives Matter movement and a call for racial justice.
Floyd, a Black man, died in Minneapolis after a White police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
The FBI declined to comment to Fox News when asked about the reported terminations.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as "unlawful," warning they violated civil service protections.
"This is a dangerous precedent," the group said, arguing the bureau punished employees for a split-second de-escalation decision in a volatile moment. --->READ MORE HERE
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