FBI officers are seen here kneeling as protesters march in June 2020 in Washington, D.C., during a protest over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
Twelve FBI agents who were laid off this year for kneeling during racial justice protests in the hot summer of 2020, they are suing the Bureau and its director, alleging unlawful retaliation.
The former special agents, with nearly 200 years of experience, once won awards for helping prevent mass shootings, exposing foreign spies and thwarting cyberattacks.
But they say that as elite federal law enforcement agents, they had never received training in crowd control, and were not wearing shields, gas masks or helmets when they encountered a volatile crowd on the streets of Washington, D.C., in June 2020.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington on Monday describes a small team of FBI agents as being vastly outnumbered and literally pinned against the wall of the National Archives building as unrest swept the country over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Court documents say they knelt not to reflect a left-wing political point of view, but rather to de-escalate a situation that was threatening to get out of control.
“With potentially catastrophic consequences in mind, Plaintiffs knew that a split-second lapse in judgment by any of them could inflame an already tense national climate and provoke further violence and unrest,” says the lawsuit filed by former Justice Department prosecutor Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group.
Accused of “lack of impartiality”
Inspector General of the Department of Justice reviewed the incident in 2024 and did not reveal any violations. But the episode went viral on social media, attracting critics who called the kneeling a political act. Before returning to the White House, President Trump also published a negative article on the matter.
Shortly after new FBI Director Kash Patel joined the FBI this year, the lawsuit says he began targeting agents involved in the episode for retaliation. Several plaintiffs were removed from leadership positions within the FBI. Officials have launched a new investigation. The case was still pending when they were all fired in September, curtailing the FBI's typical procedures for investigating misconduct.
In his resignation letter, Patel wrote: “You have demonstrated unprofessional conduct and impartiality in the performance of your duties, resulting in the transformation of government into a political weapon.”
During his confirmation hearing, Patel told senators he would abide by the internal review process. But the lawsuit accuses him of breaking that promise to pursue his own political goals.
The sudden departure of fired agents disrupted important work, including evidence-gathering in Utah after the murder of a conservative activist. Charlie Kirk and efforts to support the Trump administration's “Make DC Safe and Beautiful” executive order, court papers say.
The case alleges violations of the agents' First Amendment rights to freedom of association and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process. They ask to reinstate them at work and return their back wages.
The FBI declined to comment on the progress of the trial.
