Merrick Garland says ‘I don’t know’ when asked how many FBI informants were at January 6
Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a House hearing Wednesday he did not know whether there were government informants present at the Capitol on January 6 – after a former top FBI official testified there were informants there and the feds had to scramble to determine how many.
Garland repeated his answer when getting grilled by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
Massie asked the AG how many government agents or assets were present on or around January 6, also referencing his own earlier inquiry about people ‘agitating in the crowd.’
‘I don’t know the answer to that question,’ Garland replied.
‘You don’t know how many there were, or there were none,’ Massie pressed.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said he didn’t know how many government informants were at the Capitol on January 6, following testimony by a former top FBI official about an after the fact ‘poll’ to determine the number
‘I don’t know the answer to either of those questions. ‘If there were any, I don’t know how many. I don’t know whether there are any,’ Garland said.
‘I think you may have just perjured your self,’ said Massie, who is the subject of a documentary about the Kentucky farm where he lives off the grid.
‘You want to say that again, that you don’t know that there were any?’
‘I have no personal knowledge on this matter,’ Garland proceeded.
Then, Massie brought up a conspiracy theory about Ray Epps, who sued Fox News for defamation over claims he was a government agent.
Massie then brought up Epps’ indictment on a misdemeanor charge, calling it a ‘joke’ at a time when he said Garland and the DOJ are ‘sending grandmas to prison.’
He then went on to complain about some of the sentences handed down for people convicted of taking part in the riot at the Capitol when lawmakers gathered to count the electoral votes.
He also referenced the 22-year sentence of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was arrested before January 6 for burning a church Black Lives Matter banner, and who wasn’t at the Capitol.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Donald Trump loyalist who may force a vote to try to take down Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also hammered Garland on January 6 – but did so after a clash over China, and didn’t end up getting an answer.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) grilled Garland about informants. A former top official in the FBI’s Washington Field Office says some informants came to D.C. without telling their handlers on January 6. At least one may have told his handler in advance, he said
Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan and the Republican majority repeatedly went after Garland
Donald Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz accused the DOJ of giving Hunter Biden special treatment. He tried to pin down Garland with a January 6 question after hitting him on a China issue
‘So, did the FBI lose count of the number of paid informants on January 6th?’ Gaetz asked him, immediately after accusing Hunter Biden of engaging in ‘bribery’ with Chinese officials.
‘Let me answer your question about China,’ Garland responded.
‘I only get five minutes, Gaetz said, pointing to a time limit. ‘You’ve already sort of I think screwed the pooch on China. So on January 6 did you lose count of the number of federal assets, did you lose count and order an audit?’ he asked.
That prompted top Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler to respond that Gaetz’s time had expired. ‘Let him answer the question,’ Nadler intoned.
That prompted a Garland response dealing only with the China threat.
The fireworks at the oversight hearing came after the release of an explosive transcript where a former assistant director at the FBI testified that there were paid government informants present on January 6 – although some evidently assisted the government on drug or other cases and came to DC without the knowledge of their handlers.
Steven D’Antuono, former assistant director-in-charge of the Washington Field Office, told the House Judiciary Committee that confidential sources attended and other informants went on their own accord.
He said the Washington Field Office knew ahead of time that some undercover operatives would be at the Stop the Steal rally before the Capitol storming.
There were so many, the FBI ‘lost track’ of some of them and had to perform an audit later to determine how many were there.
D’Antuono said behind closed doors that at least one informant was in contact with his FBI handler when he entered the Capitol.
The informant, from Kansas City was ‘trying to stop some of the action happening and they left or whatnot … but I’m not sure if that handler knew that he was coming or not,’ D’Antuono said.
In that instance, ‘I believe the case agent knew he was coming because I think he told them, if I recall,’ he said.
Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan asked D’Antuono whether there were ‘known or unknown Confidential Human Sources (CHSes) at the riot’.
‘Well, I think they were both,’ he responded.
Jordan replied: ‘So, you now know that there were CHSes that the FBI knew ahead of time were going to be here on January 6 and that there were also some unknown CHSes who, on their own accord, decided to come here on January 6?’
‘That is my belief, yeah,’ D’Antuono responded.
He amplified his comments by explaining how informants might have ended up there. Typically, an FBI field office will notify a jurisdiction when one of their informants is headed there.
‘Now, [Washington Field Office] may have had a CHS in the crowd that was a drug CHS, violent crime CHS, that didn’t tell us they were going, right. People have a citizen’s right to go and protest. We’re not going to stop them from doing that. As you well know, we had FBI agents there. We had other government officials. People are there, right. That’s — I firmly believe that’s their citizen’s right, right,’ he said.
‘So I think we asked headquarters to do a poll or put out something to people saying was any CHSes involved. And I think that’s when we started getting responses back,’ he said.
The clash over January 6 comes days after former President Trump on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ refused to say whether he ordered law enforcement to protect the Capitol, but said he ‘behaved so well.’
Gaetz and other Trump allies have tried to claim left-wing Antifa instigated the riot, where more than 1,000 people have been convicted after swarms of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Trump himself also blamed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for security failures in his recent ‘Meet the Press’ interview.