Summary
- FBI fired about 20 agents pictured kneeling at 2020 protest.
- Kneeling was intended to de-escalate tensions during George Floyd protests.
- Agents had no discipline found in 2020 internal review.
According to a source quoted by CBS News, the BBC's US partner, the termination letter noted an alleged "lack of judgement" in their activities. It has been stated that 15 to 20 agents have been fired.
During a protest in 2020, the agents reportedly joined others in taking a knee. In May of that year, a police officer knelt on the neck of Floyd, a black man, killing him, causing a worldwide uproar.
The FBI Agents Association claimed that the agents' rights had been infringed and denounced the terminations. When the BBC contacted the FBI, they declined to comment.
The alleged dismissals coincide with the Trump administration's efforts to rid the federal government of what it perceives to be left-wing and "woke" policies and personnel.
On social media at the time, a number of right-wing critics had criticized agents and police officers who were seen kneeling.
However, their supporters contend that rather than indicating that the agents shared their opinions, the kneeling was a strategy to ease tensions with the demonstrators.
Viral footage of Floyd's killer, white police officer Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck while he was pinned to the ground for over nine minutes turned the act into a symbol of protest against racism.
Floyd passed away from a heart attack brought on by severe neck compression, according to an official post-mortem examination.
Recently, the agency laid off Spencer Evans, a former special agent in command of the Las Vegas field office, former assistant director in charge of the Washington field office Steven Jensen, and former acting director Brian Driscoll.
The three former agents filed a lawsuit against US Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this month, claiming the officials fired them in order to curry favor with President Donald Trump.
The FBI Agents Association said in a statement Friday that Patel's "dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the Bureau" and making it "harder to recruit and retain skilled agents - ultimately putting our nation at greater risk."
How did the FBI Agents Association respond in detail?
The FBIAA denounced the dismissals as infringements of due process rights, declaring that the discharged agents were not treated in a fair or transparent manner.
The group took issue with the leadership of FBI Director Kash Patel, asserting that the dismissals removed critical institutional knowledge, diminished trust in the leadership by FBI personnel, and adversely impacted the FBI's ability to recruit and retain quality agents.
FBIAA characterized the firings as political retribution, not disciplinary actions.
They acknowledged that engaging in kneeling was an act of de-escalation during demonstrator confrontations, and they did not find any basis for discipline after the event.