A group of FBI agents who were fired for kneeling during a racial justice protest after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 sued Monday to get their jobs back.
The 12 agents argued they were unjustly fired by FBI Director Kash Patel and said their action was a tactical crowd control move and not a political gesture.
“Plaintiffs were performing their duties as FBI special agents, employing reasonable deescalation to prevent a potentially deadly confrontation with American citizens: a Washington Massacre that could have rivaled the Boston Massacre in 1770,” the suit claims.
The agents were part of a larger group deployed near the National Archives building during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 2020, just 10 days after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis.
Shortly after they walked outside, the agents were met with a large crowd of protesters, who began chanting for them to kneel, according to the lawsuit.
The agents “demonstrated tactical intelligence” in choosing to kneel instead of meeting the protesters with force, the suit says. The group was sent out with no crowd control equipment or experience, according to the lawsuit.
Justice Department officials investigated the incident in 2024 and found no misconduct. However, Patel launched a new probe when he took over in February 2025, following his nomination by President Trump.
That investigation was still pending when the agents were abruptly fired in September, the lawsuit claims.
The agents are hardly alone in being canned for political reasons since Patel took over the agency. Numerous FBI employees who worked on investigations into Trump during President Joe Biden’s administration have also been fired. Another agent was canned simply for displaying a Pride flag on his desk.
With News Wire Services
