The FBI has fired a bunch of brokers who kneeled throughout a civil rights-related protest in Washington, D.C., within the wake of George Floyd’s demise in 2020, sources acquainted with the matter informed ABC Information.
Most of the brokers labored on the FBI’s Washington Subject Workplace on the time, they usually had been photographed in early June 2020 kneeling on the protest, the sources stated.
A minimum of a few of them had been reassigned earlier this yr, however now as many as 20 brokers have been fired, the sources added.
The FBI declined to touch upon the matter.
One supply acquainted with the matter stated the brokers kneeled throughout the protest as a de-escalation technique, after indignant protesters — outnumbering the brokers — urged them to kneel. The supply stated a earlier inner evaluation of the brokers’ actions discovered that the kneeling was not meant to be a political assertion of solidarity with the protesters.
The FBI Brokers Affiliation issued a press release condemning the terminations, which it stated numbered greater than a dozen FBI particular brokers, together with some who had been navy veterans.
The group stated the firings are a part of a “harmful new sample of actions” by FBI Director Kash Patel, which “are weakening the Bureau as a result of they get rid of helpful experience and injury belief between management and the workforce, and make it tougher to recruit and retain expert brokers—finally placing our nation at larger threat.”
ABC Information’ Jack Date contributed to this report.
