WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
A third, Chris Meyer, was incorrectly rumored on social media to have participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida,. A fourth, Walter Giardina, participated in high-profile investigations like the one into Trump adviser Peter Navarro.
A lawsuit filed by Jensen, Driscoll and another fired FBI supervisor, Spencer Evans, alleged that Patel communicated that he understood that it was “likely illegal” to fire agents based on cases they worked but was powerless to stop it because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who investigated Trump.
Patel denied at a congressional hearing last week taking orders from the White House on whom to fire and said anyone who has been fired failed to meet the FBI's standards.
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Glad to see you are still posting here, instead of scribbling on the side of bullet casings.
Who's next?
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Sounds like bullshit talking points that are not backed up by facts.
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A lot of rocks have been kicked over thanks to Donald J. Trump...what used to be just below the surface has come into full view.
The fact is, you already know the Ds lawfare against DJT and anyone in his orbit.
an invention from your imagination therefore it must be true but it’s not.
You’re in a cult.
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Seriously, you should do that.
No, Lib media doesn’t have all the answers but you aren’t getting what extreme right propaganda media disseminates which is spin, misinformation and lies. Mostly bullshit conspiracies.
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yet you express no objection...guess that's par for the course among those who show full support for an unrepentant Felon, Rapist, Fraud, Insurrectionist as President of the United States...must be relaxing to not have any ethics of morals to worry about.
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you had some thought in mind…what was it?
Do you lefties here ever get tired of this innocent babe in the woods routine?
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substance to your posts...it takes a little extra effort but it's the only way to make it 'Useful'...hopefully you will, I'd really like to understand what the fundamental concerns are that drive your comments.
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