Attorney General Merrick Garland testified to the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday that he had no personal knowledge that any undercover FBI agents or assets were present at the Capitol on Jan. 5 or 6, 2021.
Mr. Garland’s testimony came a day after a former top FBI official testified that numerous confidential human sources were at the Capitol on the day it was breached.
Rep. Thomas Massie, who has been asking Mr. Garland for two years about information on the FBI’s activity during the Jan. 6 protest, grilled him on how many agents and assets were agitating within the crowd and how many entered the Capitol.
“I don’t know the answer to that question,” Mr. Garland replied.
“You don’t know how many there were or there were none,” Mr. Massie asked.
“I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. If there were any. I don’t know how many or whether there are any,” Mr. Garland said.
Mr. Massie, Kentucky Republican, accused Mr. Garland of perjuring himself: “You don’t know that there were any? You want to say that again?”
“I have no personal knowledge of this matter,” Mr. Garland said.
Mr. Massie shot back, “You’ve had two years to find out, and by the way that was in reference to Ray Epps, and yesterday you indicted him. Isn’t that a wonderful coincidence?”
He added, “On a misdemeanor. Meanwhile, you’re sending grandmas to prison. You’re putting people away for 20 years for merely filming. Some people weren’t even there yet. You got the guy on video. He’s saying go into the Capitol.”
Mr. Epps, who some on the right accuse was a government informant, was charged Tuesday on a single count of disorderly conduct for his role in the Capitol demonstration.
Prosecutors accused Mr. Epps of disrupting the orderly conduct of government business by entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday interviewed Steven D’Antuono, former assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, who said his branch learned after the 2021 demonstration that confidential sources from other field offices were in attendance and that other informants participated on their own accord.
When asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and the judiciary chairman, whether any known or unknown confidential human sources were at the protest, Mr. D’Antuono said, “Well, I think they were both.”
Mr. Jordan responded, “So, you now know that there were CHSes that the FBI knew ahead of time were going to be here on Jan. 6 and that there were also some unknown CHSes who, on their own accord, decided to come here on Jan. 6?”
Mr. D’Antuono replied, “That is my belief, yeah.”
He added that one particular source he remembered “was the Kansas City CHS that I believe the case agent knew he was coming, because I think he told them, if I recall.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.