FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly refuted President Donald Trump’s claims about agents in the crowd during the January 6 Capitol riots.
On Saturday night, the president took to his Truth Social page, asserting that 274 undercover agents were present at the riots, hinting that they were behaving like ‘agitators and insurrectionists.’
But Patel clarified on Sunday that the agents were simply sent to the US Capitol to help with crowd control at the behest of Capitol Police.
The FBI director informed Fox News that agents were deployed for crowd control by Metro Police once the riot was announced, contradicting FBI guidelines, and subtly criticized his predecessor, ex-Director Christopher Wray.
‘This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened,’ he continued.
Patel remarked, ‘We are finally uncovering the facts thanks to agents speaking out,’ following months of promising to gain ‘clear answers’ about the bureau’s involvement in the events.
‘We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability,’ he said as Trump demanded an investigation into Wray’s actions.
In a Saturday post, he remarked that the previous FBI director ‘owes some serious explanations’ after a revelation that over 200 agents were among the crowd at the Capitol riot.
FBI Director Kash Patel has refuted President Donald Trump’s remarks about FBI agents in the crowd during the January 6 Capitol riots
Patel insisted that agents were simply sent to the insurrection to help with crowd control
The president stated, ‘It was exposed that the FBI had secretly infiltrated, defying all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just before and during the January 6th Event,’ referencing the report from The Blaze.
‘That is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again!’
He further alleged, ‘That’s correct, FBI Agents were present at the January 6th Protest, likely acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as “Law Enforcement Officials,”‘ he asserted.
Trump then said he wanted to know the identities of each agent at the scene and what they were doing at the US Capitol that day.
‘Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their country,’ the president said of those who were arrested for their role in the insurrection.
‘I owe this investigation of “Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians” to them!’
Trump also noted that ‘That’s two in a row, [James] Comey and Wray, who were caught LYING with our Great Country at stake’ just days after Comey – Wray’s predecessor – was indicted for making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice.
‘WE CAN NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN TO AMERICA AGAIN,’ the president concluded.
He then doubled down on his remarks in an interview with NBC News on Sunday, when he accused Wray of ‘inappropriate behavior’ during his tenure as the head of the bureau and said he ‘would think’ the Department of Justice would investigate him.
The president claimed on his Truth Social page Saturday night that 274 plainclothes agents were at the scene of the riots
He insinuated the agents were ‘acting as agitators and insurrectionists’ as he hit out at former FBI Director Christopher Wray
The Blaze cited an unidentified senior congressional source in its reporting that 274 agents were at the Capitol riots.
That unidentified official told the outlet that the number of agents wasn’t ‘necessarily a surprise’ because the bureau often ’embeds countersurveillance personnel at large events.’
But at least some of the 274 agents included in the official’s numbers were downtown responding to pipe bombs placed near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters the night before.
There is no indication that FBI agents were involved in the breach of the Capitol.
Discrepancies over the number of agents at the Capitol riot may also still remain, as The Blaze report notes there may have been confusion regarding ‘plainclothes’ and ‘undercover’ agents.
Adding to the confusion is former Director Wray’s refusal to state whether any agents or sources were embedded in the crowd at the Stop the Steal rally.
When he was questioned by members of the House committee investigating the January 6 riots in November 2023, Wray simply said that ‘the violence at the Capitol’ was not ‘part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents.’
Wray testified in November 2023 that ‘the violence at the Capitol’ was not ‘part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents’
A damning report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI had more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol
However, a damning report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI had more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol – and three were assigned by the bureau to be at the protest.
Of those three, one illegally entered the Capitol building, and the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol.
The report also noted that none of the confidential sources were authorized to enter the Capitol or break the law or ‘encourage others to commit illegal acts.’
But it also claimed there was one confidential human source who was in contact with the leadership of far-right groups such as the Oath Keepers, and were aware of plans discussed by the Proud Boys to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Patel has since said that the report – entitled the FBI’s Handling of its Confidential Human Sources and Intelligence Collection Efforts in the Lead Up to the Jan 6, 2021 Electoral Certification – is ‘definitely a piece of the truth.’
