4 findings from DOJ watchdog report on FBI's handling of Jan. 6 Capitol riot
‘No evidence’ FBI had undercover employees at the Capitol
Despite the presence of FBI informants at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the report also found “no evidence” the FBI had any undercover employees on site on that day.
“We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6,” the inspector general’s report states.
While officials noted that “FBI policy does not permit the FBI to have undercover employees in crowds at First Amendment-protected events absent some investigative authority,” the report also found an unidentified FBI office requested “to have an undercover employee engage in investigative activity on January 6,” a request which officials told the OIG was denied.
The report also found an unidentified field office who was tracking a domestic terrorism “subject who was traveling to DC for January 6 had agents travel to the Capital Region to conduct surveillance of the subject, but the agents did not come into DC.”
