Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) political movement declared vindication after the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report about the involvement of FBI informants in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Nearly four years ago, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. The riot erupted following repeated claims from then-President Trump that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud despite there being no evidence of such claims.
The new watchdog report on Thursday revealed that 26 confidential human sources (CHSs) who were working for the FBI were in Washington D.C., on January 6. The informants were not authorized to enter the Capitol or commit illegal acts, but four of them entered the Capitol building, and 13 others entered the restricted area around it. Despite this, none of these informants have faced prosecution.
For years, Trump’s supporters have claimed, without any evidence, that FBI agents provoked the riot, rather than putting the blame on American citizens who came to Washington D.C., on January 6 at the behest of Trump and then made their way to the Capitol where they broke through windows and ransacked congressional offices.
The watchdog report showed that there were no undercover FBI employees at the riot, but there were FBI informants, people outside the bureau who give critical information to agents and are sometimes compensated for their information and expenses, at the scene. While there were no agents at the Capitol and the informants were not authorized to participate in the insurrection, meaning they did so on their own time, members of MAGA took the report as a win.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s transition team via email and the IOG via the DOJ’s online form for comment Saturday afternoon.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who endorsed Trump’s 2024 campaign, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, “For years I was called a conspiracy theorist for asking [U.S. Attorney General Merrick] Garland, [FBI Director Christopher] Wray, and [DOJ Inspector General Michael] Horowitz whether government assets participated in J6. Yesterday I was vindicated. DOJ IG report confirms there were FBI confidential human sources in the crowd, entering the Capitol, and breaking laws.”
For years I was called a conspiracy theorist for asking Garland, Wray, and Horowitz whether government assets participated in J6.
Yesterday I was vindicated.
DOJ IG report confirms there were FBI confidential human sources in the crowd, entering the Capitol, and breaking laws. pic.twitter.com/0spxGu6Wt9
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 13, 2024
Vice President-elect JD Vance wrote on Thursday on X, “For those keeping score at home, this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy theory months ago.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who’s a staunch supporter of Trump, wrote on Friday, “Another so-called ‘conspiracy’ that absolutely happened! The FBI had informants all over the Capitol complex on January 6. What happened that day wasn’t instigated by MAGA—it was Feds posing as MAGA. This is yet more evidence that President Trump must pardon every single J6 defendant after he takes office in January—and he will!”
Trump also shared an article about the report on his Truth Social platform on Friday and wrote, “Wow! This is big news. What a disgrace. Let J-6 Hostages out NOW!!!”
The president-elect has repeatedly vowed to pardon those charged and/or convicted of crimes related to the riot. During a recent interview for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” issue, Trump was asked if he would pardon all January 6 defendants, to which he said, “I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were non-violent, I think they’ve been greatly punished,” adding that he will start looking into the cases “in the first hour that I get into office.”
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote on X on Friday, “Yet another ‘far right conspiracy theory’ bites the dust. You paying attention yet?”
Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio pro-Trump Republican, on Friday shared a clip of an interview he did with Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty, in which he said that of the FBI informants who were at the Capitol riot “zero were prosecuted for doing the same thing…going into the Capitol that American citizens got prosecuted for, so that’s the part that’s so troubling, is this double standard, this unequal application of the law.”
The DOJ’s sweeping investigation of the events of January 6 has led to over 1,500 people being charged in connection with the Capitol riot, according to the Associated Press. Of those charged more than 1,000 have been convicted and sentenced, the AP reports.