(WASHINGTON) — A Thursday report reveals the FBI could have improved its pre-January 6th, 2021, intelligence gathering, despite preparations for potential violence. The report also confirms no undercover FBI agents participated in the Capitol riot, and no informants were authorized to engage in unlawful activity or incite others.
The Justice Department inspector general’s report refutes a conspiracy theory among some Republicans alleging FBI involvement in instigating the riot, where protestors sought to overturn the 2020 election results.
This review, released nearly four years after the event, addresses questions surrounding intelligence failures and potential FBI influence on participants. It’s one of several investigations into the January 6th events.
The report indicates 26 FBI informants were in Washington during the January 6th protests. While three accessed the Capitol building or restricted areas, none received authorization from the bureau to do so, break laws, or encourage illegal actions.
The FBI adequately prepared for the events, the report states, but failed to comprehensively collect intelligence from its 56 field offices.
The investigation was initiated shortly after the riot, following a January 5th, 2021, bulletin from the FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, field office warning of potential “war” at the Capitol. The former head of the Washington FBI office stated this warning was shared with other agencies through a joint terrorism task force.
However, Capitol Police leadership claimed unawareness of this document and lacked specific intelligence predicting a large-scale attack.
FBI Director Chris Wray, who recently announced his resignation, defended the agency’s handling of the intelligence. He stated the report was disseminated through the joint terrorism task force, discussed at a command post, and posted online for other agencies.
“We did communicate that information in a timely fashion to the Capitol Police and (Metropolitan Police Department) in not one, not two, but three different ways,” Wray previously stated.
The conspiracy theory of federal law enforcement entrapment has circulated in conservative circles, including among Republican lawmakers. Rep. Clay Higgins suggested on a podcast that undercover agents posing as Trump supporters incited the violence. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz inquired about the number and actions of informants present on January 6th.
The number of FBI informants present previously remained unclear. Wray previously declined to specify the number of individuals who entered the Capitol and surrounding area who were either FBI employees or those with FBI contact. Wray dismissed the notion of an orchestrated FBI operation as “ludicrous.”
An FBI informant testified at the trial of Enrique Tarrio, describing marching to the Capitol with Proud Boys members and communicating with their handler. However, this informant was not involved in the Proud Boys’ Telegram chats used to allegedly plan violence.
