(WASHINGTON) — A recent report from a government watchdog has revealed that the FBI could have taken more aggressive steps to gather intelligence ahead of the Capitol riot, despite some preparations being made for potential violence on January 6, 2021. The report highlighted that there were no undercover FBI agents on-site, and none of the bureau’s informants had been given permission to engage in the day’s events.
The findings, made public by the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office, challenge a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by certain Republican lawmakers suggesting FBI involvement in instigating the riot. On that day, rioters, driven by the goal of overturning Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden, violently clashed with law enforcement as they stormed the Capitol.
This review emerges nearly four years after a significant event that has tested the very foundations of American democracy.
Although the report’s scope was somewhat limited, it sought to address critical questions surrounding potential intelligence shortcomings leading up to the riot, including whether any individuals within the crowd acted under FBI directives. This investigation is part of a broader series of inquiries into the extraordinary events of that day, which have already resulted in congressional investigations and various indictments at both federal and state levels.
The watchdog noted that 26 FBI informants were present in Washington for protests associated with the election on January 6. Intriguingly, while three of them entered restricted areas, they had not received authorization from the FBI to do so, nor were they allowed to engage in illegal activities or incite others to do so.
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The report indicated that while the FBI took necessary steps to prepare for January 6, it did not thoroughly search its 56 field offices nationwide for pertinent intelligence.
The inspector general’s comprehensive review began just days after the riot, spurred by a warning issued on January 5, 2021, from the FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, field office, which alerted of potential for “war” at the Capitol. The former head of the FBI’s office in Washington stated that this warning was rapidly disseminated to other law enforcement agencies through a joint terrorism task force.
However, Capitol Police officials have claimed they were unaware of this bulletin at the time and insisted they had no specific or credible intelligence suggesting that a protest at the Capitol would escalate into a significant assault on the building.
FBI Director Chris Wray, who has indicated plans to resign at the end of President Biden’s term in January, defended how the agency managed the intelligence report. Wray informed lawmakers in 2021 that the information from the bulletin was shared through the joint terrorism task force, discussed at a command post in Washington, and made accessible on an online portal for other law enforcement agencies.
“We communicated that information in a timely manner to both the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department through multiple channels,” Wray asserted at that time.
The conspiracy theory suggesting that federal law enforcement officers incited the mob has gained traction among some conservative circles, with certain Republican lawmakers endorsing it. Recently, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., suggested on a podcast that agents posing as Trump supporters were responsible for provoking the violence.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who stepped back from being Trump’s pick for attorney general amid allegations of sex trafficking, sent a letter to Wray in 2021 asking about the number of informants present at the Capitol on January 6, inquiring whether they were “passive informants or active instigators.”
Previously, there was uncertainty regarding how many FBI informants were among the crowd that day. Wray did not disclose during a congressional hearing last year how many individuals who entered the Capitol and surrounding areas on January 6 had connections to the FBI. However, he firmly stated that the notion that the violence was part of some FBI operation is “ludicrous.”
During the trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio last year, one FBI informant testified about marching to the Capitol alongside members of the extremist group, detailing communications with his handler as the mob of Trump supporters advanced toward the building. Notably, this informant did not participate in the Telegram chats that the Proud Boys allegedly used to plan violence leading up to January 6.
