The FBI has fired 15 agents associated with a 2020 incident in which agents were photographed kneeling with demonstrators at the height of protests over the police killing of George Floyd, according to the agents association.
The latest round of dismissals at the bureau came at the end of a monthslong review targeting 15 agents who were associated with the kneeling incident, according to one person briefed on the matter. Some agents who were present at the incident but didn’t kneel were not fired, the source said.
The FBI Agents Association told CNN that 15 agents were dismissed and criticized FBI Director Kash Patel’s leadership, saying the dismissals “violate the due process rights” of the 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 organization said in a statement Friday night.
The FBI declined to comment on the firings.
The kneeling incident in Washington, DC, gained notoriety inside the FBI and drew criticism particularly in conservative media and among some retired agents. It occurred in the summer of 2020 — during the height of protests over racism and heavy-handed policing tactics following Floyd’s death — after a group of agents were confronted by a group of protesters.
President Donald Trump had urged then-Attorney General Bill Barr to regain control of the streets. Barr ordered the FBI and other agencies to deploy agents to help with crowd control and to protect federal buildings.
However, FBI agents generally aren’t trained to do crowd control, and deploying them to face off with demonstrators raised fears of a possible deadly confrontation, current and former bureau officials said. FBI leadership at the time pushed back against Barr, but eventually relented.
Some of the agents that day, recalling how National Guard soldiers had handled a similar confrontation, decided to try kneeling to de-escalate tensions. It worked, and the protesters moved on.
After photos emerged, a furious reaction erupted. Top officials under former FBI Director Christopher Wray reviewed the incident and determined that given the context, there was no violation of policy, current and former officials said.
But earlier this year, FBI officials decided to reassess the incident, and agents involved were given reassignments, viewed as demotions by many inside the agency. FBI officials offered no explanation for changing the roles to less-coveted positions for the agents, according to sources.
Friday’s firings are part of a broader effort by new FBI leaders to make good on promises to root out what Trump has called “woke” and politicized elements inside the agency.
The Justice Department said earlier this year that it is reviewing the conduct of more than 1,500 agents associated with cases that have found disfavor in the new Trump era, including investigations of the president and his allies.
Two senior FBI officials, including one who initially resisted the Trump administration’s effort to gather the names of agents who worked on cases related to the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, were fired last month, CNN previously reported.
This story has been updated with additional reporting about the number of agents fired.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.
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