A report released Thursday by the Justice Department's inspector general says investigators discovered no reason to believe law enforcement did anything to provoke or encourage the attack on the US Capitol—a conspiracy theory long promoted by allies of President-elect Trump. "We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received," the report states, per Politico. There were confidential FBI sources present when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the report issued by Michael Horowitz's office about the agency's preparations for the attack, though not any undercover agents.
Of that group of 26 paid informants, the report says:
- Three confidential sources were asked by the FBI to go to Washington that day to gather intelligence on domestic terrorism subjects who might be there, per the Washington Post. They are not government employees.
- 23 informants went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 "on their own initiative." Some of them contacted the FBI without being asked during the riot to report possible crimes being committed, per Politico.
- Four of the 26 entered the building, while nine others trespassed on Capitol grounds. No FBI sources were authorized to enter the Capitol or "otherwise break the law"—or encourage anyone else to. No informants have been criminally charged.
The report did have criticisms of the preparations, including a failure to check with all FBI field offices for intelligence that might have been helpful, per CNN. The FBI later incorrectly told Congress it had told the field offices to canvass their informants about threats in advance. That mistake was unintentional, investigators found. Top officials didn't realize the level of the threat, the report says, per the New York Times. The FBI said it disagrees with some conclusions in the report but accepts its recommendation to assess its procedures to prepare for domestic security threats. A poll this year found that 25% of Americans considered it "probably" or "definitely" true that the FBI instigated the Capitol riot, per CNN. (Trump says he'll pardon the rioters quickly.)
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