DOJ Finds No Evidence That There Were ANY Undercover FBI Employees at January 6 Riot
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Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that there was no evidence that any undercover FBI employees participated in the January 6 Capitol riot, although there were 26 confidential human sources (CHS) present.
In a report released on Thursday, Horowitz noted that “In the aftermath of the riot and breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, among the questions that were raised was how the breach had occurred and what was known by federal law enforcement in advance of January 6 about the possibility of a violent protest that day.”
“We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6,” he wrote.
Three confidential human sources were specifically tasked with traveling to Washington, D.C. “to report on domestic terrorism subjects who were possible attending the event.” The IG’s office “concluded that none of these three 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.”
“In addition to these 3 CHSs, we found that 23 other FBI CHSs were in DC on January 6 in connection with the events planned for January 6. 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,” wrote Horowitz.
The federal government defines a confidential human source as “a defendant who engages in the prohibited activity of associating with persons engaged in criminal activity for the purpose of furnishing information to or acting as an agent for a law enforcement or intelligence agency. Since the inception of the federal criminal justice system, prosecutors have used defendants supervised in the community as confidential human sources or informants.”
Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s allies — including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson — have suggested that undercover FBI agents played a role in instigating the riot.
Many of those allies, including Carlson, trained much of their fire on Ray Epps, a participant in the riot who was convicted and sentenced for said participation. Epps sued Fox News over the false claim, but his lawsuit was tossed last month.
