It looks like those so-called “conspiracy theorists” who kept asking uncomfortable questions about January 6 weren’t so crazy after all. Four and a half years after the events at the Capitol, the FBI has now admitted to Congress that it had at least 275 plainclothes agents embedded in the crowds that day.
The revelation, first reported by The Blaze’s Steve Baker, contradicts the Department of Justice’s line from December 2024, when the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General claimed it found “no evidence” of undercover FBI employees in the crowds on January 6. The new number, however, puts a massive asterisk on that claim. Depending on how one defines “undercover” versus “plainclothes,” both statements could technically be true — but that distinction is exactly why Americans are skeptical.
According to the DOJ inspector general’s 88-page report released last year, 26 FBI confidential human sources (informants) were in the Jan. 6 crowds. Four of them even entered the Capitol. The OIG stressed that none of those informants were authorized to break the law or provoke illegal acts. But now, with the FBI itself admitting to hundreds of additional plainclothes agents, the official narrative grows even murkier.
For years, the FBI refused to disclose the scale of its presence at the Capitol, repeatedly dodging direct questions from lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz. In one memorable exchange, Jill Sanborn, then assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, simply refused to answer if FBI operatives were involved in instigating violence on January 6. That stonewalling fueled suspicion and now we know why.
To be clear, no one is yet claiming those agents or informants acted as agitators. A senior congressional source told The Blaze the number isn’t shocking since the FBI routinely embeds counter-surveillance teams at large events. But given how long this information has been withheld, and how many Americans have been prosecuted or imprisoned over January 6, the optics are terrible.
At the very least, Congress owes the country a real, transparent investigation into what those 275 plainclothes agents were doing. Were they strictly observing? Were they gathering evidence? Or was something else going on? Americans deserve to know. After years of shifting stories and selective transparency, “just trust us” isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Leave a Comment