Federal Bureau of Investigation officers take a knee with demonstrators during a protest over the death of George Floyd in Washington, D.C., on June 4, 2020. (Jose Luis Magana / AP)
By Samuel Short May 1, 2025 at 8:35am
FBI Director Kash Patel has bad news for those agents who decided to support the violent mob in 2020.
CNN reported Wednesday that Patel had reassigned agents who were photographed kneeling during a George Floyd protest in Washington, D.C., in June 2020. These were people in uniform and on duty when they took a knee.
Per CNN, these reassignments are essentially demotions for the agents.
These agents were assigned to protect federal property in Washington D.C. — including “federal monuments and buildings” — and decided to kneel to satisfy the mob and avoid a confrontation with them.
“FBI agents generally aren’t trained to do crowd control and deploying them to face off demonstrators raised fears of a possible deadly confrontation, current and former bureau officials said,” CNN reported, in a twisted way to support and defend the agents’ decision to “deescalate tensions” rather than perform their duties.
Their choice to kneel apparently worked but generated anger when the photos went public, showing what amounts to federal officers making a political statement.
Regardless of which interpretation one chooses to believe, one fact remains the same: The agents weren’t there to make political statements or fold to the demands of rioters; they were there to protect federal property.
Furthermore, CNN‘s view that this was entirely the reason for those agents kneeling is suspect.
There is a non-zero chance that some of these people were letting their politics get in the way of doing their job.
Was this punishment suitable?
Five years did not save the agents from suffering the consequences of their actions, and we should not expect it to.
Patel stated in his confirmation hearing in January that he wanted to get the FBI working for the American people again.
On April 10, he placed intelligence analyst Brian Auten on administrative leave.
Auten had been at the center of many controversies, such as the phony Steele Dosier that attempted to brand President Donald Trump as an agent of the Russian government and the effort to dismiss Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation.”
Auten got off light for perpetuating so many false narratives to mislead the American people.
These agents being reassigned after supporting violent rioters that destroyed businesses, monuments, and lives also seems like a light punishment.
Trump recently passed his first 100 days in office.
Patel has made progress in that time, but we need more than just demotions and administrative leave. The FBI needs better people on the job.
Sam Short is an Instructor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
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