Washington, D.C. — Sept. 29, 2025
FBI Director Kash Patel’s attempt to downplay the presence of hundreds of federal agents embedded in the January 6, 2021, crowd is facing scrutiny from President Donald Trump himself.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Patel claimed that the 274 plainclothes FBI agents reportedly present at the Capitol were not provocateurs, but rather deployed after the riot broke out to assist in “crowd control”—an explanation that’s being torched by critics across the board.
Patel, elevated to FBI Director earlier this year, attempted to explain the role of the FBI at the event.
“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police — something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel said.
He added:
“This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened. Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continue with this FBI.”
But the narrative Patel offered contradicts Trump’s scathing statement released Saturday. The president blasted the idea that the FBI’s presence was innocent or reactive.
“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.
“That’s right… probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists… but certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials.’”
The sharp divergence in messaging is already drawing scrutiny, especially given the FBI’s long-standing lack of transparency around its January 6 operations.
In 2023, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress, “If you are asking if the violence at the Capitol was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents, the answer is no.” Notably, Wray stopped short of disclosing whether agents or informants were present in the crowd.
But a December 2024 report by DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz later revealed that at least 26 FBI informants had been embedded within the events of that day, further muddying the waters.
The FBI’s latest explanation—that the remaining hundreds of agents were merely on standby or assisting local law enforcement after the chaos erupted—has not convinced veteran investigators who’ve spent years combing through footage from the Capitol.
Investigative journalist Steve Baker, a contributor to The Blaze, issued a scathing rebuttal.
“This is 1000% bulls**t,” Baker declared. “No one has had more time in the Capitol CCTV viewing room than me and my partner Joe Hanneman. We’ve never seen a single frame of video showing plainclothes FBI assisting uniformed LEOs in either ‘crowd control’ or protecting the Capitol.”
He went on to clarify:
“Plainclothes is not undercover. Plainclothes FBI agents identify themselves by either wearing clothing or a ballistic vest with a logo or hanging their badges over their chest like a lanyard. Or, at least by flashing their badges to identify themselves to uniformed law enforcement.”
Baker added that in the absence of any video evidence or identification, it’s more likely that these agents were operating in a surveillance or undercover role—not helping to manage the crowd, as Patel suggested.
“If they are 100% ‘plainclothes,’ with no identification, they are either ‘surveillance’ or ‘undercover,’ and in either of those cases, they would not be participating in crowd control,” Baker asserted. “Ask any FBI agent. (We have talked to many.) They will confirm the SOP for their participation in ‘crowd control.’”
