According to The Associated Press, the FBI has fired agents that were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin. Per two of the three sources the AP spoke to with knowledge of the situation, the number of agents fired is approximately 20.
As the AP reported, last spring, the officers had been reassigned, but the anonymous sources indicated that the individuals who were captured angered some within the bureau, but it was also interpreted by some agents as a potential de-escalation technique.
According to a statement released by the FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group representing FBI employees, included in the number of agents fired were individuals who had served in the military, and thus were entitled to additional protections. The association also called for Congress to investigate the firings and indicated that Trump’s embattled FBI director Kash Patel is blatantly disregarding the rights of the employees of the FBI.
“As Director Patel has repeatedly stated, nobody is above the law,” the agents association stated. “But rather than providing these agents with fair treatment and due process, Patel chose to again violate the law by ignoring these agents’ constitutional and legal rights instead of following the requisite process.”
The FBIAA continued, “Leaders uphold the law — they don’t repeatedly break it. They respect due process, rather than hide from it. Patel’s dangerous new pattern of actions are weakening the Bureau because they eliminate valuable expertise and damage trust between leadership and the workforce, and make it harder to recruit and retain skilled agents — ultimately putting our nation at greater risk.”
Patel has brushed off accusations from recently ousted agents and top executives, including Steve Jensen, Brian Driscoll, and Spencer Evans, who allege in a lawsuit against Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi that Patel had the understanding that it was “likely illegal” to fire agents because of cases they worked but insisted he was powerless because he was working on orders from both the White House and the Justice Department.
To that end, as CNN reports, the Justice Department said that it will be reviewing the conduct of 1,500 agents, including those who worked on cases that displease the current administration—cases that involve Donald Trump and his political allies.
Notably, the response on social media has been one of alarm, with some juxtaposing the firing of these agents with a complete lack of consequences for the Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, who accepted a $50,000 bribe from FBI agents in an undercover sting in 2024.
According to NBC News, Homan allegedly promised he could help win government contracts for a fee, but the White House has denied this occurred.
According to a letter that Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the stench of corruption is emanating from the Trump administration and in particular, the White House.
“The fact that the incoming Trump Administration reportedly closed this investigation prematurely raises further concerns that the Administration is weaponizing our system of justice to protect the president’s friends and to persecute his political foes. It is critical that the American people be able to trust that the influence of White House and other government officials has not been bought, and that contracts will be awarded to companies based on merit, not to those willing to pay bribes,” the letter stated.
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