Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said Sunday that she finds it “appalling” that President Trump alleged that the FBI had placed agents into the crowd as “agitators” during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“They were brought in because we needed help,” Klobuchar said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The president posted on social media on Saturday that the FBI “secretly placed” 274 FBI agents into the crowd “just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax.” Former FBI Director Chris Wray “has some major explaining to do,”Mr. Trump added, referring to the way Wray has previously characterized the bureau’s actions that day. The president’s comments appeared to come in response to a report Thursday from right-leaning media.
“That’s right, as it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials,'” Mr. Trump said.
A report from the Office of the Inspector General released late last year outlined that its review found no evidence “showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who was nominated by Mr. Trump in January after Wray resigned, clarified in a post on X on Saturday that “274 FBI agents were thrown into crowd control on Jan. 6,” adding that the move went against FBI standards. Patel said that “failure was on corrupt leadership,” while thanking agents for “stepping up,” saying “the truth is coming out.”
Klobuchar, who led a bipartisan investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, said that across a number of hearings and recommendations for changes, “nowhere was it found that the FBI was acting as agitators.”
“In fact, they were called in when there was such a delay in bringing in the military to assist in what was essentially an insurrection where over 100 police officers were injured or maimed because of this criminal activity at the Capitol,” she added.
Klobuchar acknowledged Patel’s clarification that the agents “were brought in after the fact.”
“Senators — Republicans and Democrats — were calling the military leaders,” she said. “They were calling the Attorney General, they were asking for help, because that help was not coming to the Capitol. And everyone has seen those facts.”
Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who also appeared on “Face the Nation” Sunday, said that when it comes to the reporting around the number of agents, “this does seem to be significantly different than what anyone has heard before.” He added that it “certainly is concerning.”
“As the FBI looks at the information, is it the same? Is it the same information that has been looked at before, or is it different?” Turner said. “And that certainly bears a review, and that, I think, will occur.”
