OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that appears to contain a confirmation of sorts that the bureau did indeed utilize confidential human sources (CHS) to infiltrate crowds ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
In addition, the letter seems to imply that the FBI was using CHSs that were being controlled by field offices outside of Washington, D.C., and that the bureau may not have been able to adequately track them or their activities, Just the News reported.
Just the News added:
Jordan renewed his request for documents to Wray following Tuesday testimony from former Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Washington Field Office (WFO) Steven D’Antuono, who said that the bureau knew that some of its CHSs would be present for the events of Jan. 6 in advance.
“During this interview, D’Antuono testified that the WFO learned after the events of January 6 that there had been confidential sources from other field offices in attendance, as well as informants who participated on their own accord. According to D’Antuono, the FBI was aware in advance of January 6 that some CHSs would be in attendance that day,” the letter to Wray said.
“D’Antuono explained that due to the large number of CHSs present at the Capitol, the WFO asked FBI Headquarters ‘to do a poll or put out something to people saying w[ere] any CHSs involved’ so the FBI could try to ascertain how many CHSs had been in attendance,” Jordan wrote.
“D’Antuono stated after the outreach from Headquarters was ‘when we started getting responses back.’ As one example, he recalled that a CHS from the Kansas City Field Office was on site at the Capitol and had allegedly been in contact with his handler while at the event. The CHS reported to his handler ‘while they were in the crowd, I think, saying that they were going in. They were trying to stop some of the action happening and they left or whatnot,'” the letter continued, quoting the former FBI official.
“This new information is extremely concerning. It suggests that the FBI cannot adequately track the activities and operations of its informants, and that it lost control of its CHSs present at the Capitol on January 6,” the letter added.
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have pointed fingers at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for failing to act on Capitol Police requests to bolster security around the Capitol, including the use of National Guard troops.
Meanwhile, The Federalist was one of the first news outlets to report the suspected presence of “infiltrators” in the crowds that attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech near the Capitol that day.
A week after the deadly incident, during which unarmed protestor Ashley Babbitt was shot and killed by a plainclothes Capitol Police offider, the site ran a piece written by J. Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy and an expert in the applications of propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion.
“The deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol bore the markings of an organized operation planned well in advance of the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress,” his column began.
“A small number of cadre appeared to use the cover of a huge rally to stage its attack. Before it began, I saw from my vantage point on the West Front of the Capitol what appeared to be four separate cells or units,” he wrote, describing them this way:
- Plainclothes militants. Militant, aggressive men in Donald Trump and MAGA gear at a front police line at the base of the temporary presidential inaugural platform;
- Agents-provocateurs. Scattered groups of men exhorting the marchers to gather closely and tightly toward the center of the outside of the Capitol building and prevent them from leaving;
- Fake Trump protesters. A few young men wearing Trump or MAGA hats backwards and who did not fit in with the rest of the crowd in terms of their actions and demeanor, whom I presumed to be Antifa or other leftist agitators; and
- Disciplined, uniformed column of attackers. A column of organized, disciplined men, wearing similar but not identical camouflage uniforms and black gear, some with helmets and GoPro cameras or wearing subdued Punisher skull patches.
