Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray which appears to affirm that the Bureau employed confidential human sources (CHS) prior to the January 6th 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Furthermore, the letter suggests that these CHSs were managed by field offices outside of Washington DC and that it is likely that they were not monitored effectively by the Bureau. This information was reported by Just The News.
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 blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for not responding to the Capitol Police’s requests to increase security around the Capitol, which included sending National Guard troops.
Additionally, The Federalist was among the first news outlets to report suspicions that the crowds attending then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech close to the Capitol contained “infiltrators”.
One week following the tragic event in which an unarmed protester, Ashley Babbitt, was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer in plainclothes, J. Michael Waller, Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy and an expert on the use of propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare and subversion, wrote a piece about it.
“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.
