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FBI Lost Count of Its Snitches at Capitol on January 6, 2021

by Douglas Ankney

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) had so many snitches at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, that the agency lost track of the number. Steven D’Antouno, formerly in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office (“WFO”) testified behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee (“Committee”) that the FBI had to later conduct an audit to determine how many “Confidential Human Sources” (“CHS”) were at the Capitol on that day.

D’Antouno testified that CHS from the WFO assigned to the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, encountered CHS from FBI field offices across the country. According to D’Antouno, the WFO “had to ask FBI headquarters to do a poll or put out something to people saying ‘were any CHSs involved.’” When pressed as to how many CHSs were at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, D’Antouno would answer with “a handful.” One paid CHS from the Kansas City Field Office was at the Capitol communicating with his “handler” when the CHS entered the Capitol. (A “handler” is the FBI agent to whom the CHS reports.)

D’Antouno’s testimony was described as “extremely concerning” by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in his letter to FBI director Christopher Wray. Jordan said the testimony indicated that “the FBI cannot adequately track the activities and operations of its informants, and that it lost control of its CHSs present at the Capitol on January 6.” Jordan also chastised Wray about the FBI paying CHSs who then fabricate evidence and provide misinformation. Jordan requested that Wray provide a “substantive briefing” on the FBI employed informants on January 6, 2021, and to provide all debriefing documents received from the January 6 snitches.

Defense lawyers for five Proud Boys recently asserted at their trial that at least eight FBI informants were spying on the organization, at least one of whom was with the defendants at the Capitol on January 6. The FBI pays an average of $42 million annually to the snitches in its CHS program.   

 

Source: nypost.com

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