FIRST ON FOX: Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray this week regarding officers who were seen kneeling before Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in 2020.

Several FBI officers were photographed kneeling during a June 4, 2020, demonstration in Washington, D.C. The protests during summer 2020 often turned into violent riots across the country in outrage over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Some agents who kneeled reportedly received commendations from FBI executive management, Gaetz claimed in his letter, and the Florida congressman demanded to know whether their support for the demonstrators contributed to their career advancement.

"Many FBI personnel we were trusting to be on the front lines were photographed kneeling in surrender to people who at times were violent," Gaetz told Fox News Digital in an interview.

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 Gaetz says one of the kneeling agents appears to be Washington field office assistant special agent in charge Sarah Linden.

Gaetz said he heard from a whistleblower and other information that "people were rewarded for this at [the] FBI with plum personnel opportunities and promotions and advancements."

"T climb the ladder in federal employment, you shouldn't have to shimmy up the woke totem pole," Gaetz added, asking Wray "about how various personnel engaged in these acts of supplication were then given plum professional opportunities."

Gaetz said the "FBI's behavior is demoralizing" to law enforcement from the local to the federal levels and that "it showcases a real misunderstanding of the purpose of law enforcement."

"The purpose of law enforcement is to keep people safe, not to engage in politics," Gaetz said. "And for the last several years, we've seen the FBI more interested in virtue signaling and political activity than in just the nuts and bolts in evaluating the facts and the law."

The Florida Republican named Linden in his letter to Wray, telling Fox News Digital he sent the letter to get "confirmation" that the whistleblower information he received was correct.

"And Sarah Linden, we understand, now is leading the criminal division of the Washington field office," Gaetz said. "And if that's the case, we want to know that that was a decision based on merit, not a decision solely as a consequence of a political performance."

When asked about his confidence level that the agent wearing sunglasses and a surgical mask in the picture was Linden, Gaetz said: "that's why we've asked the question."

"We have reason to believe that's who it is and that's what we are seeking to confirm," Gaetz said.

Gaetz said he did not know the identities of the other kneeling agents, but that "we'll see if their careers got an otherwise unwarranted updraft as a consequence."

The Florida Republican added that the "Biden administration seeks to reward those who participate in these virtue signals rather than doing their job."

"Wasn't it the Biden administration that wanted to have the intricacies of nuclear energy handled by the suitcase-stealing weirdo?" he added.

In the letter exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, Gaetz noted the 2020 "coordinated" summer riots that caused "millions of dollars in property damage" as well as the May 29, 2020, altercation where "violent protestors threw rocks, urine, and alcohol at United States Secret Service Agents, injuring over 60 of them."

"Some protestors also scaled the barriers to the White House and Department of the Treasury complex," Gaetz wrote.

"This shameful and unprecedented violence took place over several days, and included the arson attack on St. John’s Episcopal Church adjacent to the White House. During these events, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel were quite literally "on the line" defending our nation’s Capitol in an attack that has not been surpassed since in either its scope or violence."

"Perhaps in an effort to placate the mob, on June 4, 2020, at least six alleged FBI agents were filmed kneeling in supplication," Gaetz wrote. He claimed that Linden appeared to be "expressing her support for these seditious riots that caused so much destruction."

Gaetz gave Wray a July 7 deadline to respond to his questions.

The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

A fifth man has been found dead in Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas, in the past six months, according to police in the Texas capital.

His identity was not immediately available.

"This case is still under investigation," a department spokesman told Fox News Digital Wednesday. "No further details are available at this time."

Four other men have turned up dead in the lake, which is actually a portion of the Colorado River running through downtown Austin, according to authorities. They have repeatedly downplayed speculation that a serial killer may be behind the deaths.

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"If there was any immediate public safety concerns, we would release that information, right," Austin police Sgt. Lee Knouse told FOX 7 Austin Tuesday evening, adding that none of the deaths have been linked to one another.

However, even as the city is increasing safety measures in the area of Lady Bird Lake and along the popular nightlife on Rainey Street, police have reiterated that they have not seen signs of a serial killer, or even foul play.

Then, it turned out the city did have an active serial killer, according to prosecutors – but he had nothing to do with the bodies in the water.

Raul Meza Jr. shot a man in 1975, killed a girl in 1982 and allegedly confessed to two new murders earlier this month as Texas police continue to eye him in other cold cases.

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The U.S. Marshals arrested the 62-year-old ex-con in connection with the May murder of his former roommate, an 80-year-old retired probation officer named Jesse Fraga, and in the 2019 murder of 66-year-old Gloria Lofton.

On May 20, he allegedly strangled Fraga with a belt, stabbed him and severed his spine – prompting a manhunt that ended with the suspect apparently calling police and turning himself in.

"I think you are looking for me," Meza said in a May 24 phone call, according to the Marshals.

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"I can't say that this guy did anything at Lady Bird Lake, and I can't even say for sure there is a serial killer at Lady Bird Lake – but what it looks like to me is that there are suspicious deaths at Lady Bird Lake," criminal profiler John Kelly said after Meza's arrest. 

The Lady Bird Lake deaths have involved men in or around their 30s who had been drinking on Rainey Street and were later found dead in the water. However, police have said they do not suspect foul play in any of them.

Police found Jason John, 30, dead in Lady Bird Lake in February, a week after he was last seen on Rainey Street, which has a popular row of bars near the water. According to an autopsy report obtained by Fox News Digital, a "transient bystander" witnessed him stumble into the water.

The bystander called 911, but John's remains were not recovered until eight days later. The toxicology report found alcohol in his system and his death was ruled an accidental drowning. 

John's autopsy is the first of the deaths there this year to have been made public.

Clifton Axtell, 40, was identified as the man found dead in the same stretch of water on March 5. Jonathan Honey, 33, was found on April 1, a day after he was last seen at a food truck on Rainey Street. John Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, was also discovered in April, washed up near a dam about two miles down river from where the others were found.

Authorities have increased safety measures around Rainey Street and the Lady Bird Lake waterfront, adding fencing, lighting and increasing patrols to prevent people from slipping into the river. However, some have questioned whether "roofies" or other incapacitating drugs have been used in connection with the deaths.

"If it turns out that we believe there's a serial killer at Lady Bird Lake, then what are the odds we have two serial killers in the same city?" Kelly, the criminal profiler, asked.