XPost: alt.politics.org.fbi, alt.government.employees, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: sac.politics, mn.politics

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling with demonstrators during a 2020 protest in the wake
of police killing of George Floyd, people briefed on the matter told CNN.

The reassignments, viewed as demotions by many inside the FBI, come nearly
five years after the episode that ignited controversy inside the bureau.
FBI officials offered no explanation for changing the roles to less
coveted positions for the agents, according to sources.

The FBI declined to comment to CNN, citing its policy to not discuss
personnel matters. Agents affected didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The targeting of the kneelers is part of a broader effort by the new FBI leaders to make good on promises to root out what President Donald Trump
has called “woke” and politicized elements inside the agency.

A former FBI official said punishing agents involved in the incident now
raises concern that the bureau is bypassing its regular disciplinary
process, which can take months and even more than a year to review
incidents.

“This notion that the bureau would go after these people, it’s just disgusting,” the former official said.

After quickly ousting senior FBI leaders, the Justice Department has said
it is reviewing the conduct of more than 1,500 agents associated with
cases that have found disfavor in the new Trump era, including
investigations of the president and his allies. FBI agents who executed
the search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and who worked on January 6, 2021-related cases have been bracing for possible retribution, current and former agents said.

The kneeling incident in Washington, DC, occurred after a group of agents assigned to protect federal monuments and buildings were confronted by a
group of protesters. 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.

Some of the agents that day, recalling another recent incident in which National Guard soldiers had handled a similar confrontation, decided to
try kneeling as a way to deescalate tensions. It worked, and the
protesters moved on.

But later, after photos emerged, a furious reaction erupted inside the
FBI. Some of the agents pictured kneeling were ostracized and personally attacked by their peers, current and former agents said. Other agents
rallied to their cause, thankful that the incident didn’t devolve into
violence that could have done more harm to the bureau’s reputation.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/politics/fbi-agents-blm- protest/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

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