U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were placed among the crowd to incite violence during the "Jan. 6 Capitol riot" in 2021.
On the 27th (local time), President Trump said on his social media (SNS) platform Truth Social, "It has just been revealed that the FBI violated all rules, regulations, procedures, and standards and placed 274 FBI agents in the crowd right before and during the Jan. 6 Hoax."
He added, "According to what has been revealed, FBI agents were on the scene on Jan. 6 and probably acted as provocateurs and insurrectionists," noting, "They were never 'law enforcement officers.'"
The Jan. 6 Capitol riot refers to the storming of the Capitol led by Trump's hardline supporters who rejected the 2020 presidential election results. Returning to the White House earlier this year, President Trump on his first day in office pardoned most of the 1,500 people involved in the incident and commuted six sentences.
Recently, the far-right U.S. outlet Just the News claimed it had obtained an FBI report and reported that the FBI had planted plainclothes undercover agents from the outset during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. President Trump's remarks are seen as stemming from this.
President Trump said, "I want to know who each of the so-called 'agents' are and what they did on that 'historic' day," emphasizing, "Many great American patriots have had to pay a tremendous price just for loving their country."
He went on, "Christopher Wray, who was FBI chief at the time, bears a grave responsibility to explain," adding, "Comey and Wray were caught lying when our great nation was in a time of crisis. We must never allow this to happen again in America." Comey refers to former FBI chief James Comey.
The former chief Comey is the figure who led the probe into allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to elect Trump, and he had long been at odds with Trump. On the 25th, he was indicted on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing congressional proceedings, which some say resulted from Trump pressuring the Department of Justice.