In a striking revelation, President Donald Trump has publicly challenged the FBI over a report claiming that 274 plainclothes agents were embedded in the crowd during the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, Breitbart reported.
Trump's reaction, shared on Truth Social, centers on demands for clarity about the agents' identities and actions, contradicting prior statements from former FBI Director Christopher Wray.
On January 6, 2021, a violent riot unfolded at the U.S. Capitol as supporters of then-President Trump stormed the building, protesting the certification of the 2020 election results.
According to a report by the Blaze, the FBI later acknowledged deploying 274 agents in plainclothes among the crowd that day.
Prior to this disclosure, the agency had consistently declined to provide specifics about its involvement at the Capitol during the event.
A separate report from Just the News further noted that over 200 of these agents were secretly positioned in the crowd, highlighting the scale of the operation.
Adding to the complexity, many FBI agents, particularly from the Washington Field Office, reportedly filed anonymous complaints about being sent into a dangerous environment without adequate safety gear or clear identification as armed officers.
Breitbart News also reported in December 2024 that former Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed more than two dozen confidential human sources were outside the Capitol during the chaos.
The Blaze report cited a senior congressional source who suggested that embedding agents at large events is a standard FBI practice for countersurveillance purposes.
Reacting to these findings, Trump took to Truth Social to express his dismay, arguing that the presence of so many agents diverged sharply from what Christopher Wray had repeatedly claimed.
He accused the FBI of violating established guidelines, stating, "It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax."
Trump further speculated that these individuals might not have been acting as protectors of the law, adding, "FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as 'Law Enforcement Officials.'"
Trump insisted on full disclosure, declaring, "I want to know who each and every one of these so-called 'Agents' are, and what they were up to on that now 'Historic' Day."
He also connected the issue to broader concerns, saying, "Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their Country. I owe this investigation of 'Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians' to them!"
Concluding his remarks, Trump emphasized the importance of preventing such incidents, stating, "WE CAN NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN TO AMERICA AGAIN!" while criticizing former FBI Directors James Comey and Wray for allegedly misleading the public with their statements.
