The Oversight Project obtained a June 2020 letter from an unknown number of agents to Director Wray along with internal FBI e-mails which reveal that FBI leadership supported the BLM riots and rank-and-file displays of solidarity with them.
Patriotic agents were upset that the FBI was so publicly aligning with criminal BLM rioters sent the below letter to Director Christopher Wray The signers ripped apart the claim that “Kneel Team Six” chose to kneel as a way to de-escalate as opposed to a sign of solidarity.
The letter officially memorialized that on June 4, 2020, Washington Field Office FBI agents knelt “in solidarity” with Black Lives Matter protestors and that these kneeling agents were smiling, clapping and pumping their fists.
The letter repeatedly emphasizes that the kneeling agents were not under duress and suggests that the kneelers violated the Hatch Act. The letter further notes that other agents in the same position did not kneel.
Anonymous FBI officials had already leaked to the media the official FBI position falsely claiming the agents kneeled for “de-escalation” to minimize potential confrontation. But here’s the truth about what happened.
Our lawsuit revealed an internal FBI email in which the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility sent the below link of a video that captured the event. Although this video was mysteriously removed from the Internet sometime on or about August 18, 2020, the contents of the video were reviewed and memorialized on June 8, 2020 by 22 year federal prosecutor @shipwreckedcrew who noted in his article:
On June 6, 2020, FBI executive Stacey R. Moy (Now Special Agent in Charge) sent an email that the FBI held four meetings about the kneeling FBI agents, to include one in which the kneelers had the unusual opportunity to meet with Director Wray on 6/4:
The purpose of Moy’s email was to provide the identities of all persons at those meetings in order to identify potential leakers.
In other communications exposed by our lawsuit, FBI executives refer to the kneeling incident using the loaded term “the de-escalation,” projecting the false narrative that the kneelers were justified in their actions.
The FBI tried to send a message to those who might be inclined to speak their mind about what they witnessed. Based on the letter and the TikTok video, the FBI knew no de-escalation was needed and no de-escalation occurred.
Worse yet, on June 13, 2020, FBI executive Larissa Knapp sent an email saying that an assistant division counsel at the Washington Field Office had determined that the kneelers did not violate the Hatch Act.
This is significant because at a time when Twitter was abuzz with national outrage over the FBI kneeling with BLM, the FBI dismissed the Hatch Act violation by obtaining the opinion of the lowest level legal authority in the FBI.
Assistant general counsels are often FBI agents with law degrees who decide they would prefer to take on legal work at FBI agent pay. The FBI has lawyers available at the Office of General Counsel and Office of Professional Responsibility for matters like this.
We are sure there were extensive FBI communications in the form of emails and text messages about the FBI kneelers amongst the work force and yet the FBI produced none .More alarming is the fact that the FBI produced no internal communications about the FBI agents’ letter to Director Wray. It is highly unlikely there are zero communications.
Three of the agents who knelt on June 4, 2020 were promoted very quickly:
First Promotion – Sarah Webb Linden was promoted from special agent to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s D.C. field office.
Second Promotion – Nitiana (Doss) Mann was promoted to the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of FBI Houston She then was Legal Attache in Australia. Her husband, James Mann, worked for (you guessed it) weaponized the DOJ Public Integrity Section!
Third Promotion – According to a Daily Signal article, Amy Oakes was promoted from agent to lead cybercrimes counterintelligence agent.
On June 19, 2020, Stacey Moy was Named Special Agent in Charge of the Counterintelligence Division of the WFO. Previously he was unit chief in the at HQ in charge of the investigation of leakers regarding this kneeling incident. Now he is head of the San Diego office.
According to a New York Post article, the FBI Agents Association rewarded Agents who took a knee with gift cards.