FBI reassigns agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON AP The FBI has reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers two people familiar with the matter announced Wednesday The reasons for the moves were not this instant clear though they come as the FBI under Director Kash Patel has been undertaking broad personnel changes and Deputy Director Dan Bongino has repeatedly sought to reassure supporters of President Donald Trump who are critical of the bureau The Director and I are working on a number of vital initiatives to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated and that a great number of of your open questions are answered Bongino wrote in one modern post on X without elaborating The reassignments first revealed by CNN were certified to The Associated Press by two people familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss non-public personnel moves An FBI spokesman declined to comment Related Articles The Senate is voting on whether to block Trump s global tariffs amid economic turmoil Kuwait frees more Americans in the second release in as a multitude of months Trump bureaucrats must review efforts if any to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia judge rules The home of Elon Musk s SpaceX could become an official Texas city called Starbase A town refuses to give up the school s Native American mascot and gets Trump s assistance The photographs at issue revealed a group of agents taking a knee during a demonstration following the May killing of Floyd which sparked widespread anger after millions of people saw video of his arrest It led to a national reckoning over policing and racial injustice The kneeling angered various in the FBI but was also understood as a workable de-escalation tactic during a time of widespread protests and the agents were not punished at the time Patel pledged at his January confirmation hearing that he would not go backwards in seeking retribution on perceived adversaries But even before he was sworn in there was concern that the Justice Department was poised to do exactly that including by demanding a list of the thousands of agents who worked on investigations into the Jan riot at the U S Capitol a request seen by various as a doable precursor to a purge at the bureau