FBI Director Kash Patel testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Commitee in Washington, D.C., on Sept.16, 2025.

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling with protesters in Washington during the 2020 racial justice protests after the death of George Floyd, multiple news outlets are reporting.

The exact number of fired agents is unclear, but multiple outlets reported it could be more than 20. The Washington Post reported the firings included senior FBI officials.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment Saturday.

The FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents bureau employees, indicated in a statement that more than twelve agents, some of whom are military veterans, had been fired.

"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," it stated.

The statement condemned the firings as “unlawful” and said the dismissals “violate the due process rights” of the agents and make it harder to recruit and retain agents. It urged Congress to examine the firings.

The agents kneeled during a June 4, 2020, demonstration in Washington, D.C. as a de-escalation strategy, after angry protesters -- outnumbering the agents -- urged them to kneel. National Guard members had previous kneeled during the protests in a similar situation, according to CNN.

President Donald Trump had urged then-Attorney General Bill Barr to regain control of the streets. Barr ordered the FBI and other agencies to deploy agents to help with crowd control and protect federal buildings.

Photos of the kneeling agents flooded social media. Critics declared it proof of a liberal bias in the FBI.

After an internal review, bureau leadership determined that the agents had not violated any specific policy and that no disciplinary action was necessary.

FBI Director Kash Patel has vowed to root out political bias within the FBI, sparking a wave of terminations, forced departures, resignations and demotions.

Former Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll Jr. and two other ousted senior FBI officials Steven Jensen and Spencer Evans filed a 68-page lawsuit earlier this month alleging they were illegally fired as part an effort to turn the agency into an arm of the White House. The suit, filed against Patel, the FBI, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice, and the Trump administration, alleges that their firings were politically motivated retribution and violated their constitutional and legal rights.

Patel has denied that any firings have been politically motivated.

He told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that all those he’d fired from the FBI so far failed to meet the bureau’s standards.

Sarah D. Wire writes for USA TODAY about how real people are affected by the federal government. She can be reached at swire@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI fires agents seen kneeling in photo during George Floyd protests, reports

Reporting by Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect