For years, the FBI has tried to rebuild its public image — one strained by political scandal, internal division, and an ongoing crisis of trust among the American people. But this week, a bold and controversial decision by FBI Director Kash Patel has thrown the bureau back into the national spotlight.
In what many are calling one of the most sweeping disciplinary actions in recent FBI history, Patel has reportedly dismissed more than a dozen agents — possibly as many as twenty — who were photographed kneeling during a 2020 protest in Washington, D.C., following the death of George Floyd.
The firings mark a sharp shift in tone and philosophy within the FBI under Patel’s leadership — a clear signal, his supporters say, that the bureau is returning to its apolitical, law-and-order roots. But critics argue the move amounts to retaliation and raises questions about whether the agency is punishing expression rather than misconduct.
Either way, one thing is certain: Patel’s decision has reignited a bitter debate inside one of America’s most powerful institutions — and exposed once again how deeply divided the country remains over the events of 2020.
A Moment That Defined a Generation
It was June 4, 2020.
The streets of Washington, D.C. pulsed with tension. Across the nation, millions of Americans had poured into the streets in protest after the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed in police custody in Minneapolis. His death, captured on video, ignited a summer of outrage — and violence — unlike anything the country had seen in decades.
That evening, a group of FBI agents stationed along Pennsylvania Avenue found themselves at the center of that storm. As demonstrators passed by chanting for justice, several of the agents — armed, uniformed, and representing one of the country’s most recognizable federal agencies — made a spontaneous decision.
They took a knee.
Someone snapped a photo. Within hours, the image went viral.
To some, the gesture symbolized compassion — a moment of humanity during one of the darkest periods of civil unrest in modern American history. To others, it represented something else entirely: the politicization of an agency that is supposed to stand above public protest and political messaging.
The photograph became an instant flashpoint, shared millions of times across social media. Critics accused the FBI of hypocrisy — claiming that by kneeling in solidarity with protestors, agents had publicly aligned themselves with a movement that, in many places, had turned violent.
At the time, more than 700 police officers nationwide had been injured, dozens of businesses were destroyed, and entire downtown districts were reduced to rubble. The same week the FBI agents knelt, parts of Washington, D.C. were burning.
The Bureau’s Dilemma
The controversy simmered quietly for years.
Under then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, the bureau conducted an internal review of the incident and concluded that the agents had not technically violated bureau policy. The reasoning was straightforward: kneeling, while symbolic, did not constitute an official act or statement made in their capacity as law enforcement representatives.
Wray’s decision effectively shielded the agents from disciplinary action. They were quietly reassigned but kept their badges.
That era is now over.
Since taking charge of the FBI, Director Kash Patel has made no secret of his desire to purge what he sees as “woke activism” within the agency — a term that, to him, describes behavior undermining the bureau’s impartiality.
And last week, he followed through.
According to multiple reports, Patel terminated roughly 20 agents connected to the 2020 kneeling incident. Sources say the agents had been under “administrative reassignment” for years but were formally dismissed this month.
The decision immediately drew a strong reaction — both inside and outside the FBI.
The Fallout: “Nobody Is Above the Law”
In a sharply worded statement released on Friday, the FBI Agents Association confirmed the firings and demanded an independent review of Patel’s actions.
“As Director Patel has repeatedly stated, nobody is above the law,” the association said. “But rather than providing these agents with fair treatment and due process, Patel chose to again violate the law by ignoring these agents’ constitutional and legal rights instead of following the requisite process.”
The agents’ union argues that the kneeling gesture was not a political statement but an act of empathy during a moment of national anguish.
Patel, however, sees it differently.
In internal communications reportedly leaked to several outlets, Patel allegedly described the agents’ conduct as “a betrayal of the bureau’s image and neutrality” — a symbolic act that “blurred the line between service and politics.”
For Patel, the issue isn’t just about one photo. It’s about what that photo represented — a federal agency, in uniform, appearing to side with a movement whose protests often escalated into riots and violence.
A Protest That Split the Nation
The image of uniformed officers and federal agents kneeling spread across social media in June 2020 like wildfire. In some cities, mayors and police chiefs encouraged it as an act of solidarity. In others, it was condemned as weakness.
The FBI photograph became one of the most polarizing images from that summer — a moment that captured, in a single frame, the national divide between those who saw America’s institutions as part of the problem, and those who saw them as the last line of defense.
At the same time, then–Attorney General William Barr had ordered the FBI to deploy agents across the country to help restore order amid the nationwide unrest. That dual reality — agents fighting back rioters while others knelt with protesters — created a deep rift inside the bureau that, some say, never fully healed.
Patel’s Broader Crackdown
Patel’s decision to fire the kneeling agents isn’t happening in isolation.
It comes as part of what insiders describe as a broader campaign to “depoliticize” the FBI following years of scandals, internal leaks, and allegations of bias. Patel, a former national security official and close Trump ally, has positioned himself as a reformer determined to restore the agency’s credibility — even if it means confronting its own ranks.
And his message is clear: under his watch, the FBI will not tolerate employees using their positions to send political or ideological messages of any kind.
Yet Patel’s tenure hasn’t been limited to internal reform. Over the past month, he’s also led one of the most high-profile investigations in recent memory — the ongoing probe into the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA.
“We Will Not Rest Until Justice Is Served”
In a post shared to X (formerly Twitter), Patel provided an update on the investigation into Kirk’s murder — an event that has shocked the nation and fueled a wave of speculation about political violence in America.
“The entire FBI mourns the loss of Charlie Kirk,” Patel wrote. “We will not rest until justice is served, and our investigation into this assassination will continue until every question is answered.”
According to Patel, the bureau is “pursuing every lead.”
The primary suspect, Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, has already been arrested and charged with aggravated murder. But Patel revealed that the investigation is expanding to examine the possibility of accomplices and co-conspirators.
“We are meticulously investigating theories and questions,” Patel said, “including the location from where the shot was taken, the possibility of accomplices, the text message confession and related conversations, Discord chats, the angle of the shot and bullet impact, how the weapon was transported, hand gestures observed as potential ‘signals’ near Charlie at the time of his assassination, and visitors to the alleged shooter’s residence in the hours and days leading up to September 10.”
The message underscored Patel’s determination to leave no stone unturned.
The Digital Trail
In the hours before his arrest, Robinson reportedly sent a chilling confession through Discord, a popular online chat platform.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” he allegedly wrote in a private group chat. “It was me at UVU yesterday. I’m sorry for all of this.”
The message was timestamped roughly two hours before Robinson was taken into custody.
Patel later confirmed during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone involved in that Discord chat.”
“There are a lot more than 20 people linked to Robinson on Discord,” he said. “We’re running them all down — every single one.”
According to Patel, several individuals connected to the chat have already been interrogated, and more will follow. He made it clear that the FBI’s current focus extends well beyond the lone gunman theory.
A Divided Public
Between the firings of the kneeling agents and the Kirk assassination probe, Patel has positioned himself as one of the most controversial FBI directors in modern memory.
His supporters see him as a no-nonsense reformer — a man determined to restore discipline to a bureau long accused of internal bias. His critics, however, see a political loyalist using the power of the FBI to enforce ideology.
Both can agree on one thing: Patel is reshaping the agency.
The firings of the 2020 kneeling agents may be symbolic, but in the eyes of many within law enforcement, they mark a cultural turning point. For years, the FBI has struggled to balance public perception with internal unity. Now, that balance may have finally tipped.
The Meaning of Neutrality
The larger question that Patel’s decision raises is one that America itself has been struggling to answer since 2020:
Can institutions — especially those that wield immense power — remain truly neutral in a polarized age?
The 20 agents who knelt likely believed they were showing empathy, not allegiance. Patel, by contrast, appears to believe that in doing so, they compromised the bureau’s integrity.
Four years later, the argument is still alive — not only inside the FBI, but across every level of government and public service.
For now, Patel’s message is clear: symbolism has consequences.
And for the FBI agents who took a knee that summer night on Pennsylvania Avenue, those consequences have finally arrived.
Adrian Hawthorne is a celebrated author and dedicated archivist who finds inspiration in the hidden stories of the past. Educated at Oxford, he now works at the National Archives, where preserving history fuels his evocative writing. Balancing archival precision with creative storytelling, Adrian founded the Hawthorne Institute of Literary Arts to mentor emerging writers and honor the timeless art of narrative.