In a fresh bout of trouble for FBI chief Kash Patel, a group of former FBI agents in the US have filed a sweeping lawsuit against him and President Donald Trump’s administration, arguing they were wrongfully dismissed for kneeling during a racial-justice protest in Washington in 2020.
The complaint, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, references nine unnamed women and three unnamed men as plaintiffs.
What is the case about?
At the heart of the case is a five-year-old incident, reignited after Patel took over the FBI. The agents said they knelt briefly during a tense protest after George Floyd’s killing to calm a potentially explosive crowd. The Trump administration, however, cast the gesture as political expression and grounds for dismissal.
The lawsuit alleges that the agents were fired because the administration “perceived Plaintiffs to be affiliated with, and supportive of, President Trump’s partisan opponents and not affiliated with President Trump”, USA Today reported.
Who was George Floyd?
Floyd was a 46-year-old African American man whose death on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, became a catalyst for one of the largest protest movements in US and global history.
A Minneapolis police officer had knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest, despite Floyd repeatedly saying he could not breathe. The incident was captured on video and widely circulated. Floyd’s death sparked worldwide protests against police brutality, systemic racism, and the use of excessive force.
Is Kash Patel under scrutiny?
Patel has been facing mounting criticism for several other issues.
He was recently accused of deploying a specialised FBI security team to protect his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.
Earlier, FBI agent and conservative podcaster Kyle Seraphin had accused Patel of using the FBI’s $60 million government jet to watch Wilkins sing the national anthem at a wrestling event at Penn State in October.
Calls for his ouster have also gained momentum recently with a new report calling the bureau “rudderless” under the former lawyer and his deputy Dan Bongino.
The White House has consistently dismissed the rumours claiming that it is looking to replace Patel.