The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had so many informants and undercover operatives in the crowd during the January 6 Capitol protests that they lost count and ultimately needed an audit to determine the exact number, according to Steven D’Antuono, who previously served as the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
D’Antuono has testified behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee that the Washington Field Office knew that a number of informants would be in attendance for the rally. He was not aware of the presence of informants from additional FBI field offices across the country, however, according to a report from the New York Post.
The Washington field office ultimately had to ask FBI headquarters “to do a poll or put out something to people saying w[ere] any confidential human sources involved,” in order to determine how prevalent the bureau’s presence was at the Capitol. “We started getting responses back” from FBI headquarters, D’Antuono said, which helped to determine which field offices had assets present in the crowd.
One paid informant from the Kansas City field office was in communication with his FBI handler as the crowd began to enter the building. “While they were in the