At least 15 FBI agents were fired Friday in connection with their actions during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a source familiar with the terminations told NBC News.
The agents had been assigned to help secure federal buildings during the demonstrations, when a tense standoff developed between a large crowd of protesters and a limited number of FBI personnel. Some agents were photographed kneeling, which the source described as a tactic meant to de-escalate the conflict.
Protests erupted nationwide in 2020 after Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. The murder, captured on video, fueled demonstrations that called for racial justice and police accountability.
The FBI declined to comment on the firings, citing personnel matters. The FBI Agents Association said in a statement that it “strongly condemn[s]” the firings as “unlawful” and that they violated “the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country.”
The association sharply criticized Patel, accusing him of breaking the law with these and other firings at the FBI in recent months.
“Leaders uphold the law — they don’t repeatedly break it. They respect due process, rather than hide from it,” the FBIAA statement said. “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.”
These firings come just weeks after three former top FBI officials sued Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging that Patel fired them to stay in President Donald Trump’s good graces.
One of them, former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, said in August that he was not given a reason for his termination, though he served the agency for almost 20 years.
Earlier this year, Driscoll spoke out against the Trump administration’s efforts to fire agents who had worked on cases involving participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At the time, Driscoll said he’d also refused a request from senior administration officials to provide a list of every FBI employee who investigated Jan. 6 rioters.
One of the president’s first executive orders at the start of his second term was to pardon roughly 1,500 criminal defendants who had been charged for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Patel defended the firings. He said the FBI “will only bring cases that are based in fact and law and have a legal basis to do so, and anyone that does otherwise will not be employed at the FBI.”
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