A bunch of former FBI agents are suing the agency and Director Kash Patel for allegedly violating their constitutional rights by firing them for kneeling during a 2020 protest within the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
The lawsuit alleges the choice to fireside the people who had been photographed kneeling during a Washington, DC, protest in June, 2020, got here immediately from the White House and that Patel had determined to fireside the people earlier than he joined the company early this 12 months.
Patel was beforehand sued by a gaggle of high FBI officers who allege they had been fired for a similar politically pushed causes, together with the appearing FBI director who was appointed by the administration earlier than Patel’s arrival.
Monday’s lawsuit says the FBI agents “made a considered tactical decision” by kneeling during the 2020 protest in order to de-escalate a mob that had come and confronted regulation enforcement officers, together with the agents, that day.
“As a result of their tactical decision to kneel, the mass of people moved on without escalating to violence,” the lawsuit says of the “mob that included hostile individuals” during the protest.
The fired agents declare within the lawsuit they had been dismissed as a result of Patel and others noticed the photo and their actions “as not affiliated with President Trump,” thereby violating their rights together with these underneath the First Amendment.
Patel “circumvented the FBI’s internal processes for his own political purposes,” the lawsuit alleges partially as a result of inside stories, the lawsuit says, “concluded in 2020 that Plaintiffs committed no Hatch Act violation.”
When Patel requested for the names of these agents who kneeled, then-Assistant Director in Charge for the DC discipline workplace, Steven Jensen – who was later himself fired by Patel and is now suing the director – urged an ordinary inside investigation be allowed to happen over the 2020 incident, the lawsuit says.
“The record of the investigation established that each Plaintiff acted apolitically and tactically to de-escalate, with the goal of preserving American lives and maintaining order and not for any improper purpose,” the lawsuit says.
Despite this, Patel determined to fireside the agents in late September.
Patel, in his termination letters, gave scant purpose for the firing besides to say the agents “have demonstrated unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government,” in keeping with the lawsuit.
NCS has reached out to the FBI for remark.