US

FBI Director Refuses To Answer Whether Agency Had Sources ‘Dressed As Trump Supporters’ In J6 Riots

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FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to answer multiple questions Tuesday from a Republican congressman concerning whether FBI sources were embedded among Jan. 6 protesters during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.

Republican Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins asked Wray at the hearing if the FBI had “confidential human sources embedded within the Jan. 6 protesters” that day. Wray said he had to “be very careful about when we do and do not and where we have and have not used” such sources, “categorically” denying that bureau sources or employees “instigated or orchestrated Jan. 6.”

The FBI has arrested more than 850 people in connection with the Jan. 6 events, with hundreds pleading guilty to related charges, according to NBC News. Earlier this year, the House Jan. 6 Committee dismissed an “unsupported” claim that the FBI helped to incite the riot, The Washington Post reported.

“Did you have confidential human sources dressed as Trump supporters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 prior to the doors being opened?” Higgins subsequently questioned. Wray began to repeat that he needed to be “very careful,” but the congressman loudly insisted, “It should be a no! Can you not tell the American people no?”

The FBI director urged Higgins not to “read anything into” his choice not to divulge information about informants, with committee Chairman Bennie Thompson cutting off the exchange for time.