Some FBI agents were “sympathetic” to Capitol riots, a senior official was warned.
Just days after last year’s uprising, an FBI official was forewarned in an email recently made public by a person familiar with the bureau’s activities of FBI sympathies.
The document delivered via email to current FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, which was originally made public by NBC News, is the latest alarming indication of the politicization of law enforcement agencies that are supposed to uphold the rule of law impartially.
There’s no other way to put it, so I’ll just be blunt: based on discussions I’ve had since January 6, my first-hand and second-hand information indicates that, at most, a large portion of the employee population sympathized with the gang that invaded the Capitol. In a pile of records the FBI provided this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the sender’s name has been blacked out.
The communication is labeled “external email,” yet it could have been created on a personal computer by a current or former agent or official. The author mentions speaking with agents and an earlier FBI “unit.” Abbate personally thanked the writer for supplying the material while he was still the bureau’s assistant deputy director. Abbate was called by his first name in the message.
The sender of the message made reference to a senior FBI analyst who had retired and whose Facebook page had been overrun with “Stop the Steal” propaganda in response to former President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations that the election he lost was stolen. According to the email, a few agents claimed that the violence at the Capitol was not much different from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Nevertheless, “political correctness” was being used to single out Capitol rioters.
The Capitol Riot, which reportedly included a plan to overthrow the American government, featured significantly more violent incidents. A total of over 900 people have been detained and are facing criminal charges for their involvement in the uprising.
The author described how he had to “literally” “explain” to a fellow agent the distinction between “opportunists burning and looting during [Black Lives Matter] protests that stemmed [from] legitimate grievance to police brutality vs. an insurgent mob whose purpose was to the execution of democratic processes at the behest of a sitting president.” One is a small gang of crooks, while the other is a well-organized organization of homegrown terrorists, the message said.
The email’s author said Black agents were hesitant to join SWAT teams out of concern that their coworkers would not defend them because of the division on law and order enforcement, which is frequently influenced by racism, in the bureau.
Regarding the email, the FBI has not reacted.
The email didn’t surprise Michael German, a former FBI special agent who is now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program at New York University, he told USA Today.
He claimed, “It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t previously expect.” But I believe it’s critical to confirm the fears that I and many other people had. They are obviously aware of a much more serious issue within the FBI.
There are obviously different levels of excitement among agents across the country to take action against the rioters, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation into the events of January 6 who concurred in an interview with NBC News.
The insider went on to say that while it was “disappointing” to witness certain special agents’ “lacklustre attitude” to the inquiry, many at the FBI faithfully carried out their duties regardless of politics.
To prosecute the rioters, agents have successfully acquired a tonne of evidence.
Ironically, the FBI has also faced criticism for upholding the law, particularly from Republicans. After investigators carted out numerous boxes of White House papers, including classified and top secret information, from his Mar-a-Lago resort and home in August, Trump denounced the bureau as seditious, rude, criminal, and “sleazy.”
Last month, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) praised an FBI agent for his “patriotism” when he declined to work on cases related to the events of January 6 and was consequently fired.
