NEW: FBI Fires Agents Who Knelt During George Floyd Riots

The FBI has fired nearly two dozen agents who were photographed kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement as riots sparked by the death of George Floyd gripped the nation.

According to a report from the Associated Press, at least 20 agents were dismissed as a result of the photo. The outlet further reported that the fired agents had been demoted to lesser roles within the bureau in the months leading up to their outright dismissal.

The infamous photographs show a group of agents taking a knee with protesters during one of the demonstrations in Washington, D.C. after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. While the protests were peaceful at the time, D.C. was gripped by weeks of violent rioting in the weeks following Floyd’s death.

At the height of the violence, rioters stormed the White House and set fire to a historic church just outside the National Mall.

Kneeling was widely used by the Black Lives Matter movement after former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the practice of kneeling during the national anthem starting in the 2016 NFL preseason.

BREAKING: The FBI has fired the agents who were photographed kneeling at a 2020 George Floyd protest. pic.twitter.com/TZONLmRAlL

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 27, 2025

The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as “unlawful” and claimed that they violate civil service protections. The group further claimed that agents had no choice but to kneel in order to de-escalate a volatile situation, though photos from the scene show agents beaming from ear-to-ear as they knelt for far-left protesters.

Sources familiar with the terminations told Reuters that agents were told to avoid confrontation and felt kneeling would help to appease angry crowds. “This wasn’t politics — it was survival,” one former agent told the outlet.

According to a report from the Washington Post, FBI Director Kash Patel framed the kneeling of evidence of political violence within the bureau’s ranks. Last month, a number of senior FBI officials who worked on the Biden Administration’s controversial cases against President Donald Trump were fired by Patel.

Among those fired was Brian Driscoll, who previously served as acting director after his predecessor, Christopher Wray, resigned in the waning days of the Biden Administration. Driscoll has been ordered to vacate his office at the bureau’s Washington Field Office no later than Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Steve Jensen, who worked as assistant director in charge of the powerful D.C. office, was also axed.

Those agents have since filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration claiming their terminations were unlawful. “The FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it,” Patel told Driscoll, according to the lawsuit.