The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot even though the bureau did prepare for the possibility of violence on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a watchdog report Thursday. It also said no undercover FBI employees were present that day and none of the bureau's informants was authorized to participate.
The report from the Justice Department inspector general's office knocks down a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events that day, when rioters determined to overturn Republican Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the building in a violent clash with police.
The review was being released nearly four years after a dark chapter in history that shook the bedrock of American democracy.
Though narrow in scope, the report aims to shed light on gnawing questions that have dominated public discourse, including whether major intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether anyone in the crowd was for some reason acting at the behest of the FBI. It's the latest major investigation about a day unlike any other in U.S. history that has already yielded congressional inquiries and federal and state indictments.
The watchdog found that 26 FBI informants were in Washington for election-related protests on Jan. 6, and though three entered either the building or a restricted area outside, none had been authorized to do so by the bureau or to break the law or encourage others to do so.
MORE: [ Ссылка ]#
