Although a viral social media post framed the terminations as a recent development, the disciplinary actions actually occurred in September 2025.
WASHINGTON, DC: A resurgence of online posts has drawn fresh focus to FBI Director Kash Patel’s decision to terminate several agents who knelt during the 2020 George Floyd demonstrations in the nation’s capital.
While shared widely as a developing story, the dismissals themselves took place over a year prior. The impacted personnel have since pushed back against the ruling, maintaining that kneeling was a tactical choice to defuse a volatile situation rather than a political demonstration. A closer examination of the facts reveals the true timeline.
Claim: Kash Patel dismissed agents over 2020 George Floyd protest kneeling incident
📷BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel has now officially FIRED all the agents who kneeled during the George Floyd riots in 2020! https://t.co/udMbFJlrLK
— Debbie (@debbieliz56) October 20, 2026
The post shared on X asserted that FBI Director Kash Patel had let go of the agents involved in the 2020 Washington, DC incident. By utilizing a “BREAKING” graphic alongside Patel’s image, the post incorrectly portrayed the event as happening in real-time.
The message explicitly read, “BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel has now officially FIRED all the agents who kneeled during the George Floyd riots in 2020!”
This narrative has reignited conversations regarding internal shakeups under Patel’s administration. With multiple former bureau employees pursuing legal recourse over their firings, ongoing debates about institutional neutrality and alleged political bias continue to make headlines.
Fact Check: Misleading; the actual dismissals happened in 2025
The claim is inaccurate because it recycles an older administrative action and presents it as a brand-new headline. In reality, the FBI relieved roughly 12 to 20 agents of their duties in September 2025, well before the autumn of 2026.
The background traces back to June 4, 2020, when personnel from the FBI’s Washington Field Office were deployed to manage the George Floyd demonstrations. Confronted by a large and tense assembly, a subset of agents knelt.
The agents later defended their actions by explaining that they were severely outnumbered, lacked appropriate crowd-control gear, and knelt solely to lower the immediate temperature of the crowd. Although photographs of the moment circulated broadly, internal reviews conducted under the prior administration concluded no wrongdoing had occurred.
Following Kash Patel’s assumption of the directorship in February 2025, leadership revisited the matter, initially reassigning some of the individuals before initiating a fresh internal investigation.
By September 2025, formal termination notices were issued, accusing the agents of “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.”
In response, the terminated personnel filed a lawsuit against Patel and other top officials in December 2025. Their legal team is pushing for reinstatement, retroactive pay, and an official declaration that the firings violated the law. That litigation remains ongoing.
Ultimately, framing the event with terms like “BREAKING” and claiming Patel “has now officially FIRED” the agents creates the false impression of a fresh 2026 development. No verifiable evidence supports the notion that these agents were newly targeted or dismissed in late 2026.