The FBI had more than two dozen informants in Washington surrounding the chaos of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and four of them entered the building as part of the protests, an inspector general said Thursday.
Thirteen other informants were part of the mob that broke onto the Capitol grounds and breached restricted space, but they didn’t enter the building, investigators said.
None has been prosecuted.
The probe also said there is no evidence that undercover FBI employees were part of any of the protests.
All told, 13 FBI informants, or confidential human sources in FBI lingo, breached the restricted space around the Capitol. Another 13 informants were in Washington in connection with the election-related protests but did not intrude on the Capitol.
“None of these FBI CHSs were authorized to enter the Capitol or a restricted area, or to otherwise break the law on January 6, nor was any CHS directed by the FBI to encourage others to commit illegal acts on January 6,” the probe concluded.
The idea of FBI employees helping foment the violence that erupted on Jan. 6 has taken hold in some conservative circles, but the bureau had repeatedly denied it.
“This notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking, dedicated men and women,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress last year.
He had, however, refused to say whether informants were used.
The Washington Times first reported in July 2023 that an FBI whistleblower told Congress that at least 25 informants had been used surrounding the protests but they were not to be publicly acknowledged.
According to the whistleblower disclosure, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said their existence was too embarrassing.
The inspector general said the informants provided general information about the brewing sense of unrest among what one termed “normal conservatives,” amid questions about the 2020 election’s outcome.
Some informants had been assigned to report on activities of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two right-wing anti-government groups that the FBI probes as potential domestic terrorists.
Of the 26 informants who traveled to Washington on Jan. 6, two were deployed by the FBI specifically to keep tabs on subjects of domestic terrorism investigations. Another was already heading to D.C. on their own initiative when the FBI assigned them to report on a domestic terrorism subject.
One of those three did enter the Capitol, while two others breached the restricted space.
All told, four informants were in the Capitol and nine others in the restricted space but not in the Capitol.
The Justice Department has been zealous in pursuing Jan. 6 participants but hasn’t charged any of the informants.
When asked by the inspector general, the U.S. attorney in Washington offered this explanation: “The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office generally has not charged those individuals whose only crime on January 6, 2021 was to enter the restricted grounds surrounding the Capitol, which has resulted in the Office declining to charge hundreds of individuals; and we have treated the CHSs consistent with this approach.”
That does not appear to cover the four informants who did breach the Capitol.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.