The conspiracy theory that the undercover FBI agents were part of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was determined to be unfounded according to a newly released report by the Department of Justice inspector general.
CNN said that the report released on Thursday determined while no undercover agents were there, 26 paid FBI informants were. They were not, however, authorized to break the law or encourage others to do so.
Of the more than two dozen informants, three entered the Capitol or a restricted area, despite not being authorized by the FBI, The Associated Press reported.
Three informants had been directed by the FBI to report on specific people who were expected to go to the Jan. 6 rally, CNN reported. One entered the building. The two others were outside.
The other 23 were in D.C. on their own, the report found with three of those entering the Capitol building and 11 entering the grounds. The final nine did not break the law on Jan. 6, CNN reported.
Some Congressional Republicans had claimed that the FBI instigated the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to the AP. The report contradicts those beliefs.
The FBI did not deny that it had used informants over the nearly four-year investigation, CNN reported.
The investigation also looked into how the FBI prepared before Jan. 6, 2021, as supporters of then President Donald Trump, now president-elect, tried to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election.
The inspector general’s investigation said the FBI failed to canvas all field offices for intelligence from informants that could have helped law enforcement agencies deal with the protests.
The report said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told the inspector general’s investigators that the lack of a canvas was a “basic step that was missed,” NBC News reported.
The FBI had said it had told field offices to talk to informants about Jan. 6 threats, but that was not true. The misinformation, according to the report, was not intentional, CNN reported.
The FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, field office warned of potential “war” at the Capitol, with the FBI’s Washington office former head saying that the report was shared with other agencies through the joint terrorism task force. Capitol Police said they did not know of the report and had no specific or credible intelligence that there would be an attack on the Capitol, the AP reported.
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