26 FBI Informants Were at Capitol on Jan. 6, Investigation Finds

Two dozen FBI confidential sources were part of the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and four of those informants illegally entered the building, according to a new report by the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General. 

Another 13 of the 26 confidential human sources were in restricted areas around the Capitol that day as lawmakers prepared to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, the report by the DOJ’s internal watchdog found. 

“None of the CHSs [confidential human sources] who entered the Capitol or a restricted area has been prosecuted to date,” the report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz says. “The WFO [the FBI’s Washington Field Office] did not know that a total of 26 CHSs would be in DC for the events of January 6 because only four field offices had informed the WFO or FBI Headquarters that CHSs under the relevant field office’s jurisdiction—5 CHSs in total—would be traveling to DC on January 6.”

The electoral certification of Joe Biden’s win over incumbent Donald Trump in the presidential race was delayed by the Jan. 6 protest when a mob breached the Capitol. 

As a result, the Justice Department has prosecuted nearly 1,500 defendants, almost all of whom were charged either with illegally entering the Capitol or entering a restricted area around the Capitol.

The Justice Department has said it charged over 500 with assault, resisting arrest, or impeding police officers. 

“We determined that of the 26 CHSs [confidential human sources] who were in DC on January 6 in connection with the events of January 6, four entered the Capitol during the riot; an additional 13 entered the restricted area around the Capitol, which was a security perimeter established in preparation for the January 6 Electoral Certification; and nine neither entered a restricted area nor entered the Capitol or otherwise engaged in illegal activity,” the DOJ inspector general’s report says.

The IG report comes one day after FBI Director Christopher Wray announced he will resign before President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20.

Members of Congress have raised questions about the roles played by FBI informants leading up to the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by some of the protesters who walked there after hearing Trump speak on the Ellipse south of the White House. 

Marcus Allen, an FBI employee who raised questions about FBI informants at the Capitol that day, was suspended without pay. 

The report from Horowitz released Thursday also says that only three of the 26 confidential human sources were authorized by the FBI’s Washington Field Office to attend the Jan. 6 protest. 

“In addition to these three CHSs, we found that 23 other FBI CHSs were in DC on January 6 in connection with the events planned for January 6,” the report says. “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.”

The Office of Inspector General recommended that, in the future, the FBI “clearly define a mechanism for making a formal determination whether and what kind of a nationwide intelligence and CHS canvass is necessary and appropriate under FBI policies; and provide sufficient guidance to ensure that relevant intelligence can be timely shared among the relevant FBI components and with non-FBI stakeholders.”

The IG’s office announced later in 2021 that it would begin the investigation, but Horowitz said his office “paused” the probe pending the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigations. He said his office reinitiated the probe last year.

The FBI did not respond to an inquiry from The Daily Signal for this story. 

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