Recently, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan issued a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray showing evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation utilized confidential human sources (CHS) within crowds at the U.S. Capitol’s January 6, 2021 protest.
Reportedly, former Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Washington Field Office (WFO) Steven D’Antuono testified that the FBI was knowledgeable of CHSs who would be present at the events that took place on January 6. This prompted Jordan to renew his request for additional documents related to the event and CHSs.
“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,” Jordan’s letter to Wray said.
According to the testimony of D’Antuono, the number of CHSs who were allegedly present at the Capitol on January 6 was so large he suggested the bureau would have to conduct a poll to determine how many of the confidential sources were there.
“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 said.
“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,’” Jordan’s letter continued.
Jordan’s letter points out how disconcerting the idea that the FBI is incapable of tracking their CHSs is, particularly at such a volatile event. “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,” according to Jordan’s letter.
Many Americans have held the opinion that the federal government played some role in inciting the events that occurred on January 6. The evidence unearthed by Jim Jordan’s letter certainly fuels these ideas. Other experts have weighed in on the J6 protest, claiming it bore the resemblance of an “organized operation”.
J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy and expert in the applications of propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion, wrote an article in The Federalist pointing out unusual groups of people he witnessed at the event.
Waller claims that, in his opinion, the event appeared to be orchestrated and “planned well in advance” of the Congressional meeting on January 6. The article also lists separate “cells” of individuals he did not believe to be legitimate protestors but instigators.
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