The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd, three people familiar with the matter said Friday.
The bureau had reassigned the agents last spring but has since fired them, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
The number of FBI employees fired was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20, according to the Daily Mail.
The photographs at issue showed a group of agents taking a knee during one of the demonstrations following the May 2020 death of George Floyd.
But the change comes amid a broader effort by President Donald Trump‘s new FBI Director Kash Patel to root out what the president has called ‘woke‘ and politicized elements within the bureau.
The FBI has declined to comment on the staffing changes, citing its policy against discussing personnel matters.
A 2024 report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general also found that the FBI deployments to protect the monuments ‘lacked adequate planning’ and ‘failed to provide sufficient guidance to personnel regarding their mission and legal authorities.’
It also said that ‘by sending armed agents to respond to civil unrest for which they lacked the proper training or equipment, created safety and security risks for the agents and the public.’
