FACT FOCUS: Alleged FBI documents do not prove federal agents incited
Jan. 6 Capitol attack
[September 30, 2025]
By MELISSA GOLDIN
President Donald Trump bolstered a years-old conspiracy theory over the
weekend, claiming that 50 pages of alleged FBI documents recently made
public prove that 274 FBI agents at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,
were there to incite the attack.
The documents first appeared in an article published Thursday by the
conservative site Just The News, which did not blame the Jan. 6
insurrection on federal agents as Trump did. It focused instead on
complaints made in an “after-action report” by FBI personnel, who were
critical about the bureau's response that day.
The information — which The Associated Press was not able to verify as
authentic — does not support Trump's claim. It says that FBI agents
responded to the U.S. Capitol attack, not that those agents had any role
in making it happen.
Here's a closer look at the facts.
TRUMP: “As it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th
Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but
certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials.’”
THE FACTS: This is false. The alleged FBI documents to which Trump is
referring state on page 46 that 274 agents from the FBI's Washington
Field Office “responded to” to the U.S. Capitol and other nearby
locations on Jan. 6. They do not contain any credible evidence to
suggest that federal agents were acting as agitators or
insurrectionists.
“This number includes agents that responded to the Capitol grounds as
well as inside the Capitol, the pipe bombs, and the red truck that was
believed to contain explosive devices as well as CDC/ADCs,” the
documents read.
The mention of “pipe bombs” refers to the devices planted outside
offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in
Washington on the eve of the attack, while “the red truck” refers to a
pickup truck filled with weapons and Molotov cocktail components that
was parked near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
In addition to information about the agents and other FBI staff who were
deployed in response to the Jan. 6 attack, the documents include
extensive feedback from alleged bureau personnel about how the FBI
responded to the day's events. There are also suggestions from different
operational divisions for future best practices, as well as notes on
what went well.
“President Trump is right to highlight this important issue that many
Americans are still looking for answers on and that Democrats have spent
years lying about and obstructing,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail
Jackson. “The President is committed to justice and transparency for all
Americans”
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Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in
Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
The FBI declined to comment.
Rioters determined to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to
Democrat Joe Biden stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6,
2021, in a violent clash with police. Unsubstantiated conspiracy
theories that federal agents played a role in instigating the attack
became popular soon after and were advanced even by some Republicans
in Congress. Many iterations have since been debunked.
A watchdog report published in December 2024 by the Justice
Department inspector general's office found that no undercover FBI
employees were at the riot on Jan. 6 and that none of the bureau’s
informants were authorized to participate. Informants, also known as
confidential human sources, work with the FBI to provide
information, but are not on the bureau’s payroll. Undercover agents
are employed by the FBI.
It does state that “after the Capitol had been breached on Jan. 6 by
the rioters, and in response to a request from the USCP, the FBI
deployed several hundred Special Agents and employees to the U.S.
Capitol and the surrounding area.” USCP refers to the U.S. Capitol
Police.
According to the report, 26 informants were in Washington on Jan. 6
in connection with the day’s events. Of the total 26 informants,
four entered the Capitol during the riot and an additional 13
entered a restricted area around the Capitol. But none were
authorized to do so by the FBI, nor were they given permission to
break other laws or encourage others to do the same. The remaining
nine informants did not engage in any illegal activities.
It wasn’t clear prior to the report's release how many FBI
informants were in the crowd that day. Former FBI Director
Christopher Wray, who resigned in January at the end of the Biden
administration, refused to say during a congressional hearing in
2023 how many of the people who entered the Capitol and surrounding
area on Jan. 6 were either FBI employees or people with whom the FBI
had made contact. But Wray said the “notion that somehow the
violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation
orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous.”
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