By Steve Neavling
The FBI had no undercover agents among the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, nor did it instruct any of its informants to participate in the riot or break the law, according to a report released Thursday by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
However, the report noted that numerous FBI informants attended the event independently, without any direction from the bureau. Among the revelations, some informants had gathered intelligence on the Proud Boys and their leader, Enrique Tarrio, but that information was not passed along to the FBI’s Washington Field Office in advance, The Washington Post reports.
This long-awaited report provides new insights and challenges conspiracy theories promoted by President-elect Donald Trump and his allies, who alleged that FBI agents had deliberately incited the riot. During the unprecedented attack, more than 140 law enforcement officers were assaulted, and at least five deaths were later linked to the violence, which aimed to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz scrutinized the FBI’s handling of confidential human sources and intelligence prior to the Capitol attack. His findings also addressed criticism that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security failed to adequately act on intelligence warnings in the lead-up to the violence, as highlighted in a Senate committee report.
The report concluded that the FBI took significant steps to prepare for potential violence but noted key shortcomings. One critical error was the failure to request relevant intelligence from its 55 field offices, which limited law enforcement’s ability to prepare for Jan. 6.
“While the FBI undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects who planned to travel to the Capital region on January 6 and to prepare to support its law enforcement partners on January 6 if needed, we also determined that the FBI did not take a step that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6,” the report stated. “Specifically, the FBI did not canvass its field offices in advance of January 6, 2021, to identify any intelligence, including [informant] reporting, about potential threats to the January 6 Electoral Certification.”
The inspector general’s investigation was initiated shortly after the attack but faced delays to avoid interfering with the numerous criminal cases tied to the riot. These delays stretched the release of the report over several years.
The FBI faces additional scrutiny as it braces for potential leadership changes. With Trump’s possible return to the presidency, he has vowed to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, who announced Wednesday his intention to resign at the end of President Biden’s term.
Key findings in the report include that 26 FBI informants were present in Washington on Jan. 6. Of these, 17 entered the restricted Capitol grounds, and three breached the Capitol building itself. Notably, none of these individuals was charged, as the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. has generally declined to prosecute individuals whose only offense was entering the restricted grounds.
The inspector general also highlighted the FBI’s failure to conduct a comprehensive threat assessment before Jan. 6. While the Washington Field Office considered gathering intelligence after noticing online reports of potential violence, analysts decided against it, relying instead on D.C. police assessments that found no corroborating evidence of massed armed protests.
