FBI insiders say agents who took a knee during BLM protests were rewarded

The politicization of the FBI is being implemented by the promotion of liberal agents into positions of authority and the punishment or dismissal of agents who support conservative causes, FBI insiders told The Washington Times.

They said this institutionalizes a liberal bias in the upper ranks of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

In one high-profile example, an FBI agent on duty demonstrated solidarity with Black Lives Matter marchers in Washington by “taking a knee” as the protesters passed. The agent was rewarded with a promotion to a supervisor rank.

The BLM march in Washington in 2020 was part of protests and riots that swept the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Some law enforcement officers began kneeling with BLM protesters in Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles; Coral Gables, Florida; Buffalo, New York; and elsewhere.

Among six on-duty agents in full FBI gear who “took a knee” for BLM protesters in Washington was a female agent who later was promoted to the No. 2 supervisory post at the Washington field office.

Larissa Knapp, the counterterrorism special agent in charge at the Washington field office, immediately lauded the six agents, The Times has learned. She said the kneeling agents de-escalated a confrontation that could have turned violent.

Other agents on the scene chose not to kneel.

FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin, who has been suspended from his job at the bureau, said he witnessed Ms. Knapp shower praise on the agents when all the employees gathered in the conference room of the assistant director in charge to discuss “presence patrols.”

Ms. Knapp hugged each of the “kneeling agents” for their action at the protest, Mr. Seraphin said.

He said he shook his head in disbelief before Ms. Knapp yelled at him.

“So she focused her tirade about how ‘they were heroes … saved lives and they did the right thing. I called [Director Christopher A. Wray] to say how proud I was they de-escalated things. I don’t want to see anyone looking sideways at them,’” Mr. Seraphin recalled her saying.

The FBI disputed that Ms. Knapp raised her voice in the room toward anyone that day.

The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA), a private, professional association, told The Times it provided gift cards of “modest value” and personal notes to these agents for “exercising their professional judgment to diffuse a tense situation and avoid violence.”

“Our efforts in support of these Agents had nothing to do with supporting any group or movement. Outreach like this to Agents is a normal course of action when the FBIAA wants to show support for members, and I wanted to show support for these members after a challenging situation,” FBIAA President Brian O’Hare told The Times in a statement.... (Read more)

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