FBI agents fired over 2020 kneeling photo during George Floyd protests sue Director Kash Patel
By Holmes Lybrand, CNN
(CNN) — A group of former FBI agents are suing the agency and Director Kash Patel for allegedly violating their constitutional rights by firing them for kneeling during a 2020 protest in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
The lawsuit alleges the decision to fire the individuals who were photographed kneeling during a Washington, DC, protest in June, 2020, came directly from the White House and that Patel had decided to fire the individuals before he joined the agency early this year.
Patel was previously sued by a group of top FBI officials who allege they were fired for the same politically driven reasons, including the acting FBI director who was appointed by the administration before Patel’s arrival.
Monday’s lawsuit says the FBI agents “made a considered tactical decision” by kneeling during the 2020 protest so as to de-escalate a mob that had come and confronted law enforcement officers, including the agents, that day.
“As a result of their tactical decision to kneel, the mass of people moved on without escalating to violence,” the lawsuit says of the “mob that included hostile individuals” during the protest.
The fired agents claim in the lawsuit they were dismissed because Patel and others saw the photo and their actions “as not affiliated with President Trump,” thereby violating their rights including those under the First Amendment.
Patel “circumvented the FBI’s internal processes for his own political purposes,” the lawsuit alleges in part because internal reports, the lawsuit says, “concluded in 2020 that Plaintiffs committed no Hatch Act violation.”
When Patel asked for the names of those agents who kneeled, then-Assistant Director in Charge for the DC field office, Steven Jensen – who was later himself fired by Patel and is now suing the director – suggested a standard internal investigation be allowed to take place over the 2020 incident, the lawsuit says.
“The record of the investigation established that each Plaintiff acted apolitically and tactically to de-escalate, with the goal of preserving American lives and maintaining order and not for any improper purpose,” the lawsuit says.
Despite this, Patel decided to fire the agents in late September.
Patel, in his termination letters, gave scant reason for the firing except to say the agents “have demonstrated unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government,” according to the lawsuit.
The FBI declined to comment.
The-CNN-Wire
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