The FBI employee was fired on the first day of the government shutdown as Trump threatened more terminations.

FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday fired an agent in training for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk while appointed to a field office in California last year, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The trainee, who previously worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles, received a letter — dated Oct. 1 and signed by Patel — claiming he had displayed an improper “political” message in the workplace during his assignment in California under President Joe Biden, according to a copy of the letter shared with MSNBC.

The letter cited President Donald Trump’s Article II powers under the Constitution to dismiss federal agency career personnel, a justification used in several recent firings at the Department of Justice and FBI. The terminations are currently being challenged in several lawsuits.

  • Kalon@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Don’t know that laws matter anymore but firing someone based on sexual orientation is illegal.

  • gnate@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Kash Patel felt threatened because the FBI trainee was more qualified to run things.

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    While I think this government is loaded with pedophile scum and they should all be shot out of a canon into the sun, I don’t think this is a first amendment rights violation.

    If the person in question had been fired for hanging a pride flag in his apartment window, that would be a violation of his first amendment rights. However putting it on his desk in a federal office building is different.

    The federal government shouldn’t be seen as endorsing any particular view. Unfortunately, if some homophobic dickhead needs to talk to an agent, they shouldn’t be concerned about whether the agent will treat them differently.

    The scum running the FBI likely wouldn’t care if someone was displaying a Nazi flag on their desk, but they’d probably be forced to respond.

    Or maybe not.