FBI director fires trainee agent for displaying Pride flag
FBI director Kash Patel reportedly fired the employee. (Getty)
FBI director Kash Patel reportedly fired the employee. (Getty)
FBI director Kash Patel has reportedly fired an agent for displaying a Pride flag at his desk.
Insiders have claimed that the staff member, who was training at the academy in Quantico, Virginia, was handed an immediate-dismissal notice last week. He had previously worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles.
Two FBI veterans told CNN that the trainee had won awards for his service.
The dismissal letter, signed by Patel, did not specifically mention the Pride flag but said the agent was being dismissed for past “poor judgment” and “inappropriate display of political signage” on his desk in LA.
The sacking comes as president Donald Trump continues to wage war on what he describes as “woke” ideology within the government. He has ordered 46 states and territories to destroy educational material depicting trans and non-binary people, removed thousands of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) resources from federal websites and banned trans people from the serving in the armed forces.
In September, Patel fired dozens of FBI employees who had taken the knee while conducting crowd control during a demonstration in Washington DC over the killing of George Floyd, in 2020. Earlier in the year, a leaked email from Ben Williamson, the assistant director for the FBI Office of Public Affairs, barred bureau employees from celebrating Pride.
In the email, Williamson said: “I want to take the opportunity to make the FBI leadership’s expectations clear: there should be no official FBI actions, events or messaging regarding Pride month.”
Staff were permitted to celebrate in a “personal capacity,” he added.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
