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

WASHINGTON: The FBI did not send undercover agents to participate in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and did not authorise its informants to enter the building or engage in violence, the US 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.