FBI did not send undercover operatives to join Jan. 6 attack, watchdog says

The FBI did not send undercover agents to participate in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and did not authorize its informants to enter the building or engage in violence, the U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said on Thursday.

The findings by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz run counter to far-right conspiracy theories by supporters of President-elect Donald Trump who have repeatedly made baseless claims suggesting that FBI operatives were secretly involved in the Capitol riot.

One such false claim pertained to James Ray Epps, an Arizona man who entered the Capitol that day. Epps, who was charged last year with a misdemeanor for entering a restricted building or grounds, was falsely accused by Trump's supporters and by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson of being an undercover government informant.

Horowitz's report comes a little more than a month before Trump will be sworn in for his second term as president. He has pledged to grant clemency to many of the people who stormed the Capitol as soon as his first day in office.

Missed opportunity 

The report found that the FBI could have done more ahead of the Jan. 6 attack by canvassing its field offices for intelligence from informants to prepare for what was to come.

Twenty-six FBI confidential informants were in Washington, D.C., on the day of the attack, the report said.

Three of them were tasked with reporting on domestic terrorism case subjects. One of those three entered the Capitol that day, while two others entered a restricted area around the Capitol.

The other 23 informants who were in Washington to attend protests did so on their own initiative and were not asked by the bureau to attend the events, the report said.