FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on Saturday that hundreds of agents were deployed to the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, protest—but only after the violence had already begun.
Patel said former Director Christopher Wray misled Congress about the agents’ presence and roles.
“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police—something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.”
The revelation comes after reports that 274 plainclothes FBI agents were on the Capitol grounds that day.
Patel clarified their mission was crowd control, not participation in events linked to President Donald Trump’s speech at the Ellipse earlier that morning.
“There’s no indication any FBI agents were involved in any events related to Trump’s speech,” an FBI official confirmed.
Patel added that Wray should have disclosed their presence when asked by congressional leaders, per Fox News.
President Trump called Wray’s testimony “false” in a Truth Social post Saturday.
“It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax,” Trump wrote.
Trump suggested some agents may have acted as “agitators and insurrectionists” but stressed they were “certainly not… law enforcement officials” in that capacity. He demanded the identities of the agents and what each was doing at the Capitol.
Patel emphasized that agents coming forward are helping uncover the truth. “We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI,” he said.
The deployment of agents included those responding to pipe bombs placed near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters the night before.
Patel noted many of the agents were reluctant to participate in crowd control, which contradicted the FBI’s training and standard operating procedures.
“Many agents weren’t happy to have been sent to the Capitol to do crowd control,” an official told Fox News. “It was a chaotic scene with no pre-planning that contradicted the agency’s original plan to not get involved in the event.”
The first agents reportedly arrived around 2:30 p.m., after the riot had been declared, and more arrived throughout the afternoon.
Patel criticized Wray for giving what he called a “D.C. answer” when questioned under oath. “If Congress asks you a question… you have to be prepared for that,” Patel said.
The DOJ Inspector General had previously reported that the FBI had no undercover employees inciting violence at the Capitol. While 26 informants were present, only three were assigned by the FBI to the event, and none were authorized to break the law.
Patel’s clarification focuses on plainclothes agents sent for crowd control, highlighting a distinction between operational agents and informants.
Patel concluded that the Jan. 6 deployment exposed systemic failures under Wray’s leadership. “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth,” he said. “We owe this investigation of ‘Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians’ to them.”
