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A viral report claiming that the FBI secretly deployed hundreds of plainclothes agents to the Capitol on January 6 has sparked political controversy. President Trump posted the said report on his Truth Social account, with the caption "Wow. A Radical Left Democrat Scam," adding fuel to long-running claims among his allies that the FBI played a secretive or provocative role during the Capitol riot. But does the evidence support the claim? Here’s what we found. The Claim On Thursday, September 25, John Solomon and Steven Richards of the news outlet Just the News published a report asserting that the FBI deployed 274 plainclothes agents to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol building while electoral college votes were being certified for the 2020 presidential election, which Trump had lost. According to the report, these agents were part of an operation so poorly executed that it provoked internal FBI outrage. Citing a so-called after-action report "kept from the public" for over four years, the article claimed rank-and-file agents believed they had become "pawns in a political war" and that the FBI had lost its core competencies due to “wokeness.” Fact-Check The report drew swift criticism from Politico’s senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney, who called the story “wildly misrepresented.” "These were not undercover agents embedded in the crowd. They were part of the multi-agency law enforcement response after the Capitol was attacked, as the documents themselves make clear," Cheney tweeted. Moreover, revelation about the FBI agents' presence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was reported by the Department of Justice Inspector General in December 2024. Clarifying the Timeline Key to this dispute is when these FBI agents were deployed, and why. In the official DOJ report titled, "A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Handling of Its Confidential Human Sources and Intelligence Collection Efforts in the Lead Up to the January 6, 2021 Electoral Certification," it is stated that the FBI agents were deployed to the Capitol after the breach. It also noted that at approximately 1:00 p.m., FBI bomb technicians were dispatched to both Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters after reports of pipe bombs. Law enforcement ultimately recovered two suspected explosive devices. This document directly contradicts the implication in Solomon’s reporting that the FBI had a covert presence at the Capitol prior to the breach. The report stated: “On the morning of January 6, the FBI had personnel in the MPD JOCC, the WFO command post, and SIOC, as well as an IA in DHS’s virtual situation room. The FBI also had tactical teams and other specialized resources on standby. After the Capitol had been breached on January 6 by rioters, and in response to a request from the USCP, the FBI deployed several hundred Special Agents and employees to the US Capitol and the surrounding area." "Further, at approximately 1:00 p.m., WFO SABTs deployed to the headquarters of both of the major national political parties, after receiving reports of suspected suspicious devices. Ultimately, law enforcement located two suspected pipe bombs at each of the party headquarters. After law enforcement rendered the devices safe, the FBI recovered and transported the devices to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia,” the DOJ report said. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.
