More than a dozen FBI informants entered restricted areas in and around the Capitol on Jan. 6 ,2021, according to a Department of Justice investigator general (IG) report published on Thursday.
The DOJ’s oversight report that examined the FBI’s intelligence collection efforts preceding January 6th found that the FBI had 26 informants in Washington, D.C., to report on “domestic terrorism subjects” to the Bureau.
Of those more than two dozen informants, four entered the Capitol during the riot and 13 others crossed a security perimeter to enter Capitol complex grounds, according to the report.
The Justice Department IG’s findings were previously unknown. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray had consistently refused to tell lawmakers if the Bureau had informants or undercover agents in the Capitol during the January 6th riot.
“I’m never going to be getting into when or where or have not used confidential human sources,” Wray told Republican Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in July in response to her question on whether the FBI had informants in the Capitol on January 6th.
Despite appearing to have committed some of the same offenses of people who participated in the January 6th riot and have been prosecuted by the DOJ, none of the FBI’s informants who entered the U.S. Capitol complex have been charged, according to the report. Nearly 1500 Americans have been prosecuted by the Biden DOJ in connection to January 6th-related incidents.
“None of these FBI confidential human sources (CHS) 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 DOJ’s investigator general wrote.
There is no evidence that any of the Bureau’s undercover agents entered the Capitol during the riot, according to the report.
It is unclear whether members of the House Select Committee on the January 6th attack were previously aware of the report’s findings. Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the January 6th Committee, and Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiffs’ offices did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation requests for comment.
Featured Image Credit: Anthony Crider
