by Sharelle B. McNair
December 10, 2025
The ex-agents said kneeling was “a considered tactical decision.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are suing director Kash Patel to get their jobs back after they were fired for kneeling at a George Floyd protest in 2020, CNN reports.
The group, who alleges their constitutional rights were violated, say the call for their termination was handed down by the White House, and that Patel had decided to follow through before he joined the agency after being appointed by President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit, filed by three unnamed men and nine women on Dec. 8, says the FBI agents “made a considered tactical decision” to kneel during the 2020 protest as a way to de-escalate a mob that confronted law enforcement officers, including the agents.
The agents claim they were let go from the agency because Patel and other leaders deemed the picture and the agents’ actions weren’t affiliated with Trump’s ideologies. If so, the termination was a First Amendment violation. When Patel asked for the names of the kneeling agents, Steven Jensen, who at the time served as assistant director in charge for the DC field office, suggested a standard internal investigation.
Jensen was later fired by Patel after he was reinstated. He also has a lawsuit against the controversial director.
According to USA Today, there are a slew of lawsuits heading to the FBI director’s desk—and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is listed as a defendant. One is from former Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, who is suing for wrongful termination. He said he was let go as a result of a “campaign of retribution.”
The former agents request to be reinstated to their former posts in addition to a jury trial and additional relief and damages.
The letter handed to them by Patel at the time of the firing claimed the group “demonstrated unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.”
The plaintiffs believe material from internal investigations says otherwise.
The agents believe they were fired because the Trump administration saw the group as being “perceived as opposed to, or otherwise not affiliated with, President Trump.”
RELATED CONTENT: FBI Arrests Brian Cole Jr., Man Accused Of Planting Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6
