A group of former FBI agents has sued FBI Director Kash Patel after they were fired for kneeling during a 2020 protest.
The ex-agents accused the FBI director, the bureau, and the Justice Department of unlawful retaliation and of violating their due-process rights in connection with their dismissals.
The lawsuit was filed by nine women and three men, all former agents, in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
According to the lawsuit, the former agents were fired for de-escalating a hostile situation on the streets of the nation’s capital rather than escalating it during the nationwide racial justice protests in 2020 in response to the killing of the unarmed black man George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
At the time, the agents were working in counterintelligence and counterterrorism in Washington.
On June 4, 2020, the group was patrolling when they crossed paths with what the lawsuit described as a “mob that included hostile individuals alongside families with young children.”
In a decision to save lives and maintain order, the lawsuit claims the group decided to avoid triggering further violence in a time of unrest and heightened tension between the public and law enforcement by kneeling.
Photos taken at the time showed the agents wearing FBI flak jackets taking a knee as demonstrators marched. The images went viral, and critics accused the agents of engaging in political activity.
However, the lawsuit argued that their response was immediately successful by avoiding unnecessary violence.
It argues that the agents took a knee as the situation escalated to prevent a dangerous situation where civilians might clash with agents and attempt to take their weapons, resulting in a shooting.
“In addition to de-escalating, the one-legged kneeling position allowed Plaintiffs to maintain control of their firearms and ability to observe the volatile assemblage while demonstrating a level-headed law enforcement presence that avoided the use of unnecessary force against civilians,” the lawsuit filed by former federal prosecutor Mary Dohrmann read.
“Plaintiffs did not need to discharge their firearms that day,” the lawsuit also stated. “Plaintiffs saved American lives.”
After the protests, the Justice Department conducted a review of the agents’ actions and found them to be consistent with FBI policy and did not mishandle the situation.
However, after the Trump administration returned, Patel ordered an internal review of the situation in June.
In September, the agents were fired. All twelve agents were given a one-page letter that accused them of “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.”
Together, the dozen ex-agents have nearly 200 years of experience with the bureau, with service ranging from six years to more than 27 years with the FBI.
The lawsuit argued that the FBI and Patel’s “unlawful retaliation and due process violations undermine the very principles of professional and non-partisan law enforcement that protect Americans’ rights and safety every day.”
Other defendants named in the lawsuit include the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the office of the president and the U.S.
The former agents are seeking to be reinstated to their jobs as well as receive backpay and having their records related to their terminations expunged.
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