There have been accusations that the FBI had planted its agents and informants throughout the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, when a protest at the U.S. Capitol turned into a riot, to foment unrest.
A report at BizPacReview explained, “Many believe that a man named Ray Epps was one of them. He was charged this week with disorderly or disruptive conduct in connection with the January 6 riots. That’s basically a slap on the write and to many, it looks simply like an overture to give him cover.”
It was Miranda Devine at the New York Post who confirmed that the FBI actually “lost count” of its paid informants.
Her information comes from a former assistant director of the FBI, who spoke with lawmakers.
“At least one informant was communicating with his FBI handler as he entered the Capitol, according to Steven D’Antuono, formerly in charge of the bureau’s Washington field office,” Devine reported.
The Post explained D’Antuono testified behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee that his office knew its informants would be at the “Stop the Steal” rally with President Donald Trump that day.
And D’Antuono said he learned later that informants connected to other FBI offices also were there.
He explained the Washington field office asked FBI headquarters “to do a poll or put out something to people saying w[ere] any CHSs [confidential human sources] involved.”
He said FBI chiefs revealed that an informant from the Kansas City FBI office was on hand, and apparently was in touch with his FBI handler “while they were in the crowd, I think, saying that they were going in” to the Capitol.
D’Antuono did confirm a “handful” of informants were in that crowd.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI chief Christopher Wray, citing the information as “extremely concerning.”
“It suggests that the FBI cannot adequately track the activities and operations of its informants, and that it lost control of its CHSs present at the Capitol on January 6,” Jordan wrote. “These revelations reinforce existing concerns, identified by Special Counsel Durham, about the FBI’s use of, and payment to, CHSs who have fabricated evidence and misrepresented information.”
“The Justice Department Inspector General also identified critical problems in the FBI’s CHS program, including the FBI’s failure to fully vet CHSs and the FBI’s willingness to ignore red flags that would call into question an informant’s reliability.”
Jordan now wants a briefing by the FBI on its use of paid informants on that day.
The Post report revealed, “The FBI spends an average of $42 million each year in payments to its Confidential Human Sources, according to the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, which has raised concerns about the vetting process for these paid informants.”
BPR noted that even now, no one will say exactly how many FBI operatives were there that day.
The Post noted that in addition to paid informants, the FBI had “at least 18 undercover agents in the crowed plus an estimated 20 from the Department of Homeland Security.”
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
This post originally appeared on WND News Center.