"Arrest The Mayor": FBI Agent Wrote In 2020

On June 17, 2020, the Fulton County District Attorney announced murder charges against Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe in an incident that ignited national attention. Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed outside of a Wendy's fast food restaurant. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said publicly that it was murder.

That same day, thousands of miles away, a Seattle Federal Bureau of Investigation agent made his views on the Atlanta killing explicitly clear in an email obtained by HardPressed.

FBI Special Agent Eric Perry wrote in an email to a local Joint Terrorism Task Force officer that "you can go to Atlanta amd [sic] arrest the mayor. The fact that officer is being charged at all is 100% seriously messed up."

"Every officer in Atlanta should call in sick in protest. How on earth can they do their job," Perry wrote.

Bottoms, who is now running for Governor in Georgia, did not respond to a request for comment.

The FBI Seattle wrote to HardPressed that the "FBI Seattle does not have a comment as we do not confirm employment or comment on personnel."

At the time, in 2020, Perry was assigned to the FBI Seattle Division's Cellular Analysis and Survey Team (CAST).