Lawyer for fired FBI agents who knelt during 2020 protest says firings were partisan

NPR | By A Martínez

Published December 16, 2025 at 4:28 AM EST

FILE - An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16.

Updated December 16, 2025 at 9:04 AM EST

Twelve fired FBI agents allege in a lawsuit that they were unlawfully dismissed for kneeling during a protest for racial justice in Washington, D.C., five years ago.

Speaking with Morning Edition, Mary Dohrmann, a former Justice Department prosecutor representing the agents, said current FBI leadership is attempting to "rewrite" what happened outside the National Archives on June 4, 2020, when the agents say they acted in service of public safety.

A Justice Department inspector general review last year found no misconduct on the agents' part.

Dohrmann said the agents kneeling was context-specific and warned that treating de-escalation as partisan risks punishing law enforcement officers for exercising professional judgment.

Listen to the full interview by clicking on the blue button above.

The radio version of this story was edited by Adam Bearne and produced by Mansee Khurana. The web copy was written by Majd Al-Waheidi and edited by Obed Manuel.