FBI Director Kash Patel fired an FBI agent in training for having a Rainbow Flag on his desk last year — before President Donald Trump even took office.
The agent in training received an Oct. 1 letter from Patel accusing him of displaying an “improper” message by having the Pride Flag on his desk during an assignment in California last year, according to NBC News. The FBI justified the firing by citing the president’s Article II powers under the Constitution to fire federal agency career personnel.
The individual fired by the FBI was a longtime employee at the agency who was most recently undergoing training as a new agent at the FBI’s academy in Virginia. He previously worked as a field office diversity program coordinator. The individual’s identity is not clear.
“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office,” noted the letter, which was signed by Patel, according to NBC News.
The letter went on to state that the agent was “being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from the federal service.”
Ahead of the inauguration, NBC News reported, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors cautioned each other against displaying information that would reveal their sexual orientation or support for LGBTQ rights — and after the president took office, FBI agents said they heard Trump appointees at the agency were digging through internal employee files in pursuit of lists identifying employees as LGBTQ.
The reported firing comes in the midst of a government shutdown and just weeks after journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that national security officials said anonymously that the FBI was considering a plan to label transgender suspects under the FBI’s new threat category of “Nihilistic Violent Extremists.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Oct. 3 and an auto-reply email from the FBI indicated that media inquiries unrelated to “national security, violations of federal law, and essential public safety functions” would only be considered once the shutdown is over.
