Conspiracy! The Show 315: That Report About January 6th and the FBI

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I.
Hey everybody, welcome to

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conspiracy the show.
I’m your host, Adam Todd Brown,

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joining me as Co host today.
Nobody, I’m all alone and I’m

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here to talk to you about the
news story that is at the top of

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every conspiracy theory leaning
mind in all the land right now,

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the New Jersey drones.
No, I actually covered that last

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week on the in broad daylight
podcast.

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Get it wherever podcast are at.
What I am here to talk to you

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about today is the Inspector
General’s watchdog report about

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the FBI and their actions
leading up to and on the day of

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the January 6th, 2021 capital
riots that dropped last week.

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And at a svelte 88 pages, it’s
not too labor intensive of a

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read.
Boring and frustrating in a lot

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of parts, but it’s not going to
take you a month to get through

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like those heroes who read all
400 pages of the Mueller report.

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If you want to read it yourself,
I’ll link to it in the show

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notes.
Almost everything I will mention

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today in terms of quotes, even
just general information, comes

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directly from that report.
The way this is being covered in

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the media is kind of
frustrating.

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In one corner, left-leaning
media outlets are treating this

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report as proof positive that
conspiracy theorists are wrong

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about undercover FBI agents
being the true agitators behind

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what happened on January 6th.
In the other corner, right

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leaning media outlets who are
adamant that this is all the

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evidence you need to prove they
are right and that January 6th

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was all a big FBI set up on
account of all the FBI

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informants who were present.
We’ll get to the informants

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versus agents thing later on,
but there’s also a third aspect

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back to this report that some
outlets have reported on, which

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is the idea that the FBI missed
a step in their preparation for

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January 6th that could have
helped prevent what happened.

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That part is worth talking about
too.

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It might even be the most
important finding in this

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report.
You see in the run up to huge

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events, including stuff like the
Super Bowl, that FBI will

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initiate a canvassing of all
their confidential human

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sources, as we’re supposed to
call paid informants now to

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identify possible threats that
might be directed toward that

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event.
For some reason they did that

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for almost every post election
event you can think of,

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including the meeting of the
electors on December 14th and

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the inauguration on January
20th, but not for the

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certification on January 6th.
In this report, FBI Deputy

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Director Paul Abate calls it a
quote, basic step that was

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missed.
End Quote.

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And I think it’s actually way
more important than that.

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And I also think it speaks to
what might be the real

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conspiracy here.
Prior to January 6th, informants

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had shared all sorts of
information about January 6th

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with to their respective
handlers and field offices,

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including that extremist members
of the Oath Keepers may become

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involved in violent activity on
January 6th.

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That the Oath Keepers contingent
heading to DC was 200 plus

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people.
They knew the travel plans being

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discussed by the Proud Boys.
They knew about a separate group

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of 500 people willing to storm
the Capitol.

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One informant related that they
had concerns for the safety of

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members of Congress on January
6th, but despite all that, the

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customary canvassing of
informants never happened, which

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is a very interesting choice.
And it wasn’t just the words of

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confidential human sources that
should have prompted the FBI to

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do a little more prep work prior
to the riots.

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This report also reminds us that
there were two separate million

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Mega March events in Washington
DC. 1 on November 14th, 2020,

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the other on December 12th,
2020.

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And that things got kind of
violent at both of those events.

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Also, the report also mentions
an FBI system called Guardian

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that’s used to keep track of
tips that they receive.

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At the end of the report there’s
an appendix that includes 16

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different Guardian system tips
that the FBI received pre

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January 6th.
And I don’t know, the tips all

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seem pretty specific to me and
definitely suggest the feds

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should have at least looked into
what might happen a little more.

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Like what about the Proud Boys
and their leader Enrique Tario

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that says, quote, these men are
coming for violence.

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They will cause mass unrest,
destruction and potentially kill

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many people in the streets of DC
on January 6th.

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And quote, or another that said,
bring food and guns.

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If they won’t listen to our
words, they can feel our lead

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come armed.
End Quote.

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And then one more, January 6th,
we burn the place to the ground.

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Leave nothing behind.
End Quote.

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And granted, these are all
mostly social media posts and

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such, but there are enough of
them just in this report to

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suggest that someone should have
had some idea that something was

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coming.
I want to reiterate, it’s

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mentioned at various points
throughout the report that the

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FBI issued all of the customary
requests for information and did

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all of the other customary FBI
things for a bunch of post

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election events like the meeting
of the electors on 1214, various

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court cases, the inauguration.
But they didn’t do it for the

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certification of the election.
There are details about several

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meetings or e-mail chains where
the matter was discussed, but

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for this one post election
activity, the one that people

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online were talking about
traveling to and carrying out

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assorted acts of aggression,
they didn’t take that step.

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The refusal to do it, at least
officially, seems like it came

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down to a matter of the tips not
including enough specific

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details or threats.
At one point, someone from the

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Washington Field Office
complaints about the abundance

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of information they’re getting
and the lack of specifics.

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Here’s a quote.
If there are no specifics, why

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are we stating violence is an
issue?

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End Quote.
And another.

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Lastly, while there is a better
way to tactfully say it, if

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you’re reporting says or does
not identify any violence,

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threat, criminal activity, then
why is it being reported?

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End Quote.
So basically, reports about

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potential violence on January
6th were met mostly with SAS,

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which is weird because in the
case of the certification in the

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Trump rally that coincided with
it, there was 0 mystery around

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when either of those things were
going to happen.

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And there’s only so many ways to
disrupt the government function

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happening inside the Capitol.
You’re going to have to get a

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lot of people inside the
Capitol.

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How much more specific do you
need this information to be?

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1 interesting moment in the
report pertains to the

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discussions about whether the
the Department of Defense or

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Department of Justice should
take the lead in the event of

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unrest.
You might remember we covered a

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documentary recently called War
Game about a war game exercise

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centered around another January
6th type event happening in the

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future.
And a lot of the talk when it

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came to calling in the National
Guard in that documentary was

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optics.
And sure enough, when the DOJ

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and DoD are going back and forth
about who should take the lead

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in the case of unrest leading up
to January 6th, the Department

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of Defenses main concern is that
they, quote, didn’t want it to

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look like a militarized event, a
militarized society.

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End Quote.
So they’re having all of these

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meetings with the various
agencies and the FBI keeps

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talking about no specific or
credible threats.

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And then, as if by magic, on
literally the eve of the

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certification, January 5th,
higher ups within the FBI

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finally start getting the
sinking feeling that January 6th

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was going to be a bigger problem
than they expected.

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And what’s crazy is that it’s
mentioned that this change in

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attitude was based on, quote, a
number of factors, including the

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angry rhetoric about the
election results and the fact

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that Trump would be speaking at
the Ellipse, as well as the

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domestic terror suspects who
would be traveling, and the

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crowd size.
End Quote.

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These are pretty much all things
that at least the FBI knew about

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well before the evening of the
5th, at least according to this

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report.
As for the angry rhetoric,

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that’s the thing the entire
country had known about for

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months.
But somehow the FBI didn’t

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connect all those dots until
January 5th.

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That seems unthinkable to me.
I don’t know that there was

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anything nefarious behind the
decision to not take this

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canvassing step in relation to
January 6th, but if you read

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this report, it’s pretty clear
that the agency could stand to

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be, I don’t know, streamlined a
little bit.

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Maybe, if I’m reading it
correctly, getting the ball

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rolling on that canvassing thing
would essentially just involve

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sending an e-mail.
You send an e-mail to your field

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offices, You tell them, hey, ask
all your confidential human

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sources if they have any
information about people

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traveling to Washington DC to
tear shit up on January 6th.

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Send all that information to us.
That’s it.

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That’s to send an e-mail.
Unless I’m completely missing

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some highly technical and
complicated step buried

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somewhere in this report that I
read every damn page of, it

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seems like they just have to
send an e-mail and there are

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what seems like two months worth
of meetings and e-mail chains

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about whether or not they should
send that e-mail.

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Just send the fucking e-mail,
all right?

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Damn.
At this point in the notes, I

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was 47 pages deep into this
report and it felt like most of

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it was just descriptions of
meetings about whether to issue

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this one request for
information.

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Meanwhile, within three hours
after the riots, the FBI did

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finally issue to a request to
field offices to, quote, canvas

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all sources including
confidential human sources,

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liaison and technical End Quote.
And it provided 2 questions that

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should be asked of those
sources.

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One, do you have any information
about, quote, the perpetrators

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of any criminal acts, End Quote,
at the Capitol.

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And two, do you know of any
plans to commit further violent

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criminal activity in Washington
DC or any other threats to

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federal facilities or other
property?

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And how hard was that?
The thing they debated doing

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tirelessly in the run up to
January 6th took three hours to

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accomplish after the fact.
Again, it’s probably not a

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nefarious thing, but it’s also
not a good thing.

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And I do find it highly
interesting that this was the

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one post election event they
decided to not hit up

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confidential informants about.
I don’t think I knew December

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14th is the day the electors
meet until this election.

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But that the FBI viewed that
event in 2020 as enough of a

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risk to warrant seeking further
information to fend off any

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potential threats.
But the certification, not so

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much.
It’s weird, it’s weird, it’s all

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even weirder.
The report says after the fact,

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the FBI started saying they did
do that canvassing.

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I feel like that’s a detail I’m
not seeing in a ton of the

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reporting around this.
But in the days after January

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6th, the FBI started getting a
lot of questions about a

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possible lack of preparedness on
their part.

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In response, they issued A9 page
chronology document called FB is

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planning, coordination and
response to US Capitol Breach.

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Under the section labeled Pre
January 6th, 2021 coordination

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summary overview, there’s a
bullet point that says the

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agency quote, canvassed all FBI
field offices to review their

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pending investigations to
determine whether any of their

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projects posed a threat to the
upcoming electoral certification

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and presidential inauguration.
End Quote.

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And requested their field
offices to another quote, canvas

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their confidential human sources
for any reporting regarding the

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potential for violence at such
events.

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End Quote.
But as this report makes clear,

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they very much did not do that.
That they said they did when

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they didn’t is portrayed in this
report as kind of an oopsie or

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or a misunderstanding, but I
don’t know.

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Read it and decide for yourself.
This oversight gets even harder

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to understand when you get to
the section in the report

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labeled Several FBI field
offices obtained intelligence

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from confidential human sources
related to January 6th, some of

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which was not adequately shared
with the Washington field

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office, or, if shared, not
adequately followed up on by the

222
00:13:49,360 –> 00:13:53,440
Washington field office.
That is a snappy title, and one

223
00:13:53,440 –> 00:13:57,360
that summarizes one of the
longest sections of this report

224
00:13:57,720 –> 00:14:00,800
perfectly.
Various FBI field offices did

225
00:14:00,800 –> 00:14:05,120
receive relatively specific
information about threats to the

226
00:14:05,120 –> 00:14:09,520
certification, and a lot of that
information either did not get

227
00:14:09,520 –> 00:14:13,920
to the office in DC that needed
it the most, or it wasn’t acted

228
00:14:13,920 –> 00:14:17,160
on when it did arrive.
Some of the concerns centered

229
00:14:17,160 –> 00:14:20,600
around Oath Keepers founder
Stuart Rhodes, who ended up

230
00:14:20,600 –> 00:14:24,000
being charged with seditious
conspiracy over his role in the

231
00:14:24,120 –> 00:14:27,280
capital riots.
As early as September 2020,

232
00:14:27,320 –> 00:14:30,440
there were field offices
gathering details about Rhodes

233
00:14:30,800 –> 00:14:34,440
and his plans to commit acts of
violence in the name of

234
00:14:34,440 –> 00:14:37,320
supporting Trump.
By November, there was talk

235
00:14:37,320 –> 00:14:41,480
about said acts of violence
taking place in DC by way of,

236
00:14:41,480 –> 00:14:46,200
quote, an armed force which
could potentially protect or

237
00:14:46,200 –> 00:14:50,160
take back the White House should
there be an attempt to remove

238
00:14:50,160 –> 00:14:52,520
the current administration.
End Quote.

239
00:14:52,600 –> 00:14:56,160
And that another quote.
Rhodes anticipates receiving

240
00:14:56,160 –> 00:15:00,760
some sort of approval or request
from the current administration

241
00:15:01,040 –> 00:15:05,400
before he and Oath Keepers would
initiate any violent action End

242
00:15:05,400 –> 00:15:07,560
Quote.
But also, no one needed

243
00:15:07,560 –> 00:15:11,600
confidential informants to be
hip to what Rhodes was planning

244
00:15:11,920 –> 00:15:14,720
because he also posted the
following statement on the Oath

245
00:15:14,720 –> 00:15:17,280
Keepers public website.
Here goes.

246
00:15:17,320 –> 00:15:21,360
We must all March on Washington
DC and directly back up and

247
00:15:21,360 –> 00:15:25,800
defend President Trump as he
fights against the ongoing coup

248
00:15:26,040 –> 00:15:28,040
that is attempting to steal the
election.

249
00:15:28,280 –> 00:15:31,680
Start rolling towards DC now.
End Quote.

250
00:15:31,720 –> 00:15:35,520
The Inspector General’s report
confirms that the FBI was aware

251
00:15:35,520 –> 00:15:39,840
of these and other website posts
that were similar in nature.

252
00:15:39,920 –> 00:15:43,520
And I don’t know, I think on the
basis of that alone, you send

253
00:15:43,520 –> 00:15:47,440
that canvassing e-mail just like
you did with everything else.

254
00:15:47,600 –> 00:15:51,800
Post election, Rhodes was so
open about his plans that one

255
00:15:51,800 –> 00:15:55,760
field office wanted to open a
domestic terrorism case against

256
00:15:55,760 –> 00:15:59,440
him based on potential
violations of the seditious

257
00:15:59,440 –> 00:16:03,440
conspiracy statute, the exact
thing he was eventually charged

258
00:16:03,440 –> 00:16:05,760
with.
In December, the same field

259
00:16:05,760 –> 00:16:09,360
office reported that Rhodes was
recruiting Oath Keepers members

260
00:16:09,720 –> 00:16:14,560
to travel with him to DC for the
events of January 6th and that

261
00:16:14,560 –> 00:16:18,280
they were, quote, very concerned
that extremist members of Oath

262
00:16:18,280 –> 00:16:22,360
Keepers or other groups may
become involved in unplanned

263
00:16:22,360 –> 00:16:25,840
violent activity on January 6th.
End Quote.

264
00:16:25,840 –> 00:16:30,640
Somehow these reports were never
emailed to the Washington field

265
00:16:30,640 –> 00:16:33,080
office.
Again, it’s just an e-mail.

266
00:16:33,120 –> 00:16:36,440
There was also information
coming in about the Proud Boys

267
00:16:36,720 –> 00:16:41,360
and their leader, Enrique Tario,
that was similarly alarming.

268
00:16:41,680 –> 00:16:45,280
And again, a lot of it was never
communicated to the Washington

269
00:16:45,360 –> 00:16:49,200
field office.
There are pages and pages and

270
00:16:49,200 –> 00:16:54,000
pages of this report that are
all about the information and

271
00:16:54,000 –> 00:16:58,080
warnings that we’re coming into
these field offices from

272
00:16:58,120 –> 00:17:01,800
confidential informants that
never gets reported to the

273
00:17:01,800 –> 00:17:04,560
Washington office.
And that’s definitely a failure

274
00:17:04,599 –> 00:17:06,280
on the part of those field
offices.

275
00:17:06,720 –> 00:17:10,400
But at the same time, if that
canvassing request was sent out,

276
00:17:10,480 –> 00:17:13,680
the Washington field office
probably would have gotten that

277
00:17:13,680 –> 00:17:16,000
information.
So now let’s talk about the two

278
00:17:16,000 –> 00:17:18,440
parts of this report that are
getting the most attention.

279
00:17:18,520 –> 00:17:22,359
Up first, the part that
left-leaning media is amplifying

280
00:17:22,359 –> 00:17:25,480
the most, which is the part
about how the FBI did not have

281
00:17:25,520 –> 00:17:30,160
any undercover employees at the
Ellipse on the National Mall or

282
00:17:30,160 –> 00:17:34,040
at the Capitol on January 6th.
That’s actually the title of the

283
00:17:34,040 –> 00:17:36,640
section about it.
It’s a really short section,

284
00:17:37,000 –> 00:17:42,280
literally 2 paragraphs that say
there’s no evidence the FBI had

285
00:17:42,280 –> 00:17:46,360
undercover agents or employees
at the Capitol that day.

286
00:17:46,440 –> 00:17:49,520
And I’m going to be honest, my
first thought upon hearing that

287
00:17:49,560 –> 00:17:52,280
wasn’t the conspiracy theorists
are wrong.

288
00:17:52,400 –> 00:17:56,480
My first thought upon hearing
there were no undercover FBI

289
00:17:56,480 –> 00:18:00,600
agents in the crowd on January
6th was why not?

290
00:18:00,720 –> 00:18:04,880
Well, as it turns out, the FBI
forbids having undercover agents

291
00:18:04,920 –> 00:18:08,720
at, quote, First Amendment
protected events absent some

292
00:18:08,720 –> 00:18:11,160
investigative authority.
End Quote.

293
00:18:11,200 –> 00:18:15,080
Was that abundance of reports,
both online and from

294
00:18:15,080 –> 00:18:19,040
confidential informants that the
Oath Keepers and Proud Boys both

295
00:18:19,040 –> 00:18:22,200
had plans to travel to DC to
tear shit up?

296
00:18:22,280 –> 00:18:25,080
Not enough to warrant some sort
of investigation?

297
00:18:25,160 –> 00:18:28,680
Apparently not, because the
report also says as an FBI field

298
00:18:28,680 –> 00:18:32,880
office asked the Washington
field office if they could send

299
00:18:32,880 –> 00:18:36,080
an undercover agent and the
request was denied.

300
00:18:36,400 –> 00:18:41,240
I personally don’t think this is
the great exoneration and

301
00:18:41,360 –> 00:18:46,600
debunking of all conspiracy
theories around January 6th that

302
00:18:46,600 –> 00:18:49,680
it’s being treated as.
And you know, I’d say it if I

303
00:18:49,680 –> 00:18:55,040
did, but so much of what the FBI
does involves informants as

304
00:18:55,040 –> 00:18:59,760
opposed to agents themselves.
There are plenty of informants

305
00:18:59,760 –> 00:19:02,360
on hand at the Capitol.
That’s the part the right

306
00:19:02,360 –> 00:19:05,040
leaning outlets are currently
howling about.

307
00:19:05,160 –> 00:19:08,360
There were 26 informants there,
in fact.

308
00:19:08,440 –> 00:19:12,720
That includes 2 who were sent
there by their respective field

309
00:19:12,720 –> 00:19:17,680
offices and a third whose field
office asked them to report on

310
00:19:17,680 –> 00:19:21,680
what they saw after he notified
them he was traveling to DC.

311
00:19:21,840 –> 00:19:26,520
The other 23 went there on their
own. 13 of them told their

312
00:19:26,520 –> 00:19:29,920
respective FBI handlers that
they were making the trip.

313
00:19:30,000 –> 00:19:33,520
Ten others did not.
It stated all throughout this

314
00:19:33,520 –> 00:19:38,400
section of the report that,
quote, no FBI confidential human

315
00:19:38,400 –> 00:19:43,440
source was authorized to enter
the capital or a restricted area

316
00:19:43,800 –> 00:19:47,240
or to otherwise break the law on
January 6th.

317
00:19:47,400 –> 00:19:52,560
Nor was any confidential human
source directed by the FBI to

318
00:19:52,560 –> 00:19:56,760
encourage others to commit
illegal acts on January 6th.

319
00:19:56,880 –> 00:19:59,240
End Quote.
That’s pretty interesting when

320
00:19:59,240 –> 00:20:01,720
you couple it with this quote.
Here goes.

321
00:20:01,880 –> 00:20:06,280
Of the 26 confidential human
sources who were in DC for the

322
00:20:06,280 –> 00:20:09,440
events of January 6th, the
records we reviewed showed that

323
00:20:09,440 –> 00:20:14,080
4 entered the capital.
On January 6th, 13 entered the

324
00:20:14,080 –> 00:20:19,280
restricted area and 9 attended
January 6th events, but did not

325
00:20:19,280 –> 00:20:23,040
enter the capital or a
restricted area or otherwise

326
00:20:23,040 –> 00:20:25,920
engage in illegal activity.
End Quote.

327
00:20:26,000 –> 00:20:28,440
And OK, So what about the ones
who did?

328
00:20:28,520 –> 00:20:31,320
Of the three that were
officially sent there by their

329
00:20:31,320 –> 00:20:35,240
handlers, 2 entered that
restricted area and one of them

330
00:20:35,400 –> 00:20:39,200
entered the capital.
That’s in addition to three

331
00:20:39,200 –> 00:20:43,720
other informants who we’ve also
been told entered the capital as

332
00:20:43,720 –> 00:20:45,680
well.
I don’t know my people on the

333
00:20:45,680 –> 00:20:48,400
left.
Do we not want any additional

334
00:20:48,400 –> 00:20:52,400
details at all about this part?
Here’s some interesting math

335
00:20:52,440 –> 00:20:56,840
that probably means nothing, but
4 informants entered the

336
00:20:56,840 –> 00:21:00,800
capital, and a fifth who was
sent there by their FBI field

337
00:21:00,800 –> 00:21:04,520
office or handler whatever
entered the restricted area, but

338
00:21:04,520 –> 00:21:08,960
not the building itself.
So that adds up to five, right?

339
00:21:09,080 –> 00:21:11,800
I don’t have a calculator on
hand, but that feels correct.

340
00:21:11,920 –> 00:21:15,240
As coincidence would have it.
That is the exact number of

341
00:21:15,240 –> 00:21:19,120
informants that the Washington
field office knew would be

342
00:21:19,120 –> 00:21:22,400
there, the report says.
If one field office officially

343
00:21:22,400 –> 00:21:26,440
sends an informant to another
field office’s area, they have

344
00:21:26,440 –> 00:21:28,480
to tell that field office that
they’re sending them.

345
00:21:28,520 –> 00:21:31,120
But if that informant is
traveling to the area of their

346
00:21:31,120 –> 00:21:34,760
own volition, there’s no such
requirement on the part of the

347
00:21:34,760 –> 00:21:38,120
field office.
Nevertheless, 1 lone field

348
00:21:38,120 –> 00:21:42,600
office that knew of two
informants traveling to DC did

349
00:21:42,600 –> 00:21:47,720
notify the Washington field
office how many of them entered

350
00:21:47,720 –> 00:21:49,360
the capital.
Was it both of them?

351
00:21:49,480 –> 00:21:52,840
I sure hope not, because that
would mean that of the four

352
00:21:53,040 –> 00:21:56,320
confidence potential human
sources present that day who did

353
00:21:56,360 –> 00:21:59,320
enter the capital, the
Washington field office knew all

354
00:21:59,320 –> 00:22:03,160
four of them were coming.
I honestly wish this report had

355
00:22:03,200 –> 00:22:05,760
an agent I could chat with or
something.

356
00:22:06,200 –> 00:22:08,840
And by that I mean a customer
service agent who will

357
00:22:08,840 –> 00:22:11,320
immediately answer my questions,
like when you’re shopping for

358
00:22:11,320 –> 00:22:15,120
car insurance and whatnot.
Because this report does not

359
00:22:15,200 –> 00:22:20,680
address how many of the five
informants the Washington field

360
00:22:20,680 –> 00:22:23,400
office knew about entered the
Capitol.

361
00:22:23,440 –> 00:22:26,840
And that feels like a huge
oversight to me because if it’s

362
00:22:26,840 –> 00:22:31,080
four out of five, that feels
like a smoking gun sort of

363
00:22:31,080 –> 00:22:33,120
thing.
It’s one thing if just that one

364
00:22:33,120 –> 00:22:36,080
informant who entered the
building was joined by three

365
00:22:36,080 –> 00:22:39,520
others randomly, but if all four
happened to be 4 of the five the

366
00:22:39,520 –> 00:22:42,720
FBI knew about, that strikes me
as a much bigger deal.

367
00:22:42,720 –> 00:22:45,680
Unfortunately, again, that’s not
addressed in the report.

368
00:22:45,760 –> 00:22:49,080
After the paragraph about how
the Washington Field Office knew

369
00:22:49,080 –> 00:22:52,920
about 5 confidential human
sources traveling to DC, the

370
00:22:52,920 –> 00:22:55,680
report moves into
recommendations for how the FBI

371
00:22:55,680 –> 00:22:59,480
can do better next time and a
response letter from the FBI

372
00:22:59,880 –> 00:23:02,920
that mostly boils down to them
pointing out all the things the

373
00:23:02,920 –> 00:23:06,120
report says they did right and
saying they don’t agree with the

374
00:23:06,120 –> 00:23:09,400
bad stuff and they’ll consider
fixing things in the future.

375
00:23:09,400 –> 00:23:12,120
So at least justice is served on
that front.

376
00:23:12,200 –> 00:23:15,960
At this point, I’m not sold on
the idea that this report is

377
00:23:15,960 –> 00:23:20,640
smoking gun proof that the FBI
was instrumental in stirring

378
00:23:20,640 –> 00:23:25,200
shit up on January 6th any more
than I am that it’s conclusive

379
00:23:25,200 –> 00:23:28,720
proof that there’s nothing at
all to see here when it comes to

380
00:23:28,720 –> 00:23:32,640
their actions that day.
If it is somehow confirmed that

381
00:23:32,640 –> 00:23:35,840
the four informants who entered
the Capitol we’re all among the

382
00:23:35,840 –> 00:23:38,800
group of five that Washington
knew was coming, then we’re

383
00:23:38,800 –> 00:23:41,760
getting a little closer to this
feeling like something way

384
00:23:41,760 –> 00:23:44,520
bigger to me.
Until then, if nothing else, I

385
00:23:44,520 –> 00:23:48,600
can definitely see this being a
let it happen because it will

386
00:23:48,600 –> 00:23:51,520
benefit us kind of thing.
Though it’s mentioned at one

387
00:23:51,520 –> 00:23:54,360
point in this report, and I
mentioned it earlier in the pod,

388
00:23:54,440 –> 00:23:57,720
that a field office wanted to
open a domestic terrorism case

389
00:23:58,040 –> 00:24:01,800
against Oath Keepers founder
Stewart Rhodes over potential

390
00:24:01,800 –> 00:24:05,400
seditious conspiracy charges,
That effort eventually failed

391
00:24:05,400 –> 00:24:08,560
because it was deemed the FBI
didn’t have sufficient evidence

392
00:24:08,560 –> 00:24:11,040
to pursue it.
Well, one of the unfortunate

393
00:24:11,040 –> 00:24:14,040
facts when it comes to a huge
national emergency type of

394
00:24:14,040 –> 00:24:18,880
incident like January 6th is
that a lot of times someone

395
00:24:18,880 –> 00:24:22,640
somewhere along the way benefits
from it somehow.

396
00:24:22,720 –> 00:24:26,280
Like how 9/11 made the Bush
administration’s foreign policy

397
00:24:26,280 –> 00:24:30,760
goals way easier to accomplish,
or how Pearl Harbor gave

398
00:24:30,760 –> 00:24:34,000
elements within the US
government and military who

399
00:24:34,000 –> 00:24:37,480
desperately wanted to enter
World War 2 all the reason they

400
00:24:37,480 –> 00:24:41,720
needed even natural disasters,
and with someone being paid to

401
00:24:41,720 –> 00:24:45,400
fix and rebuild things.
You know, along those lines.

402
00:24:45,400 –> 00:24:49,120
The FBI didn’t have sufficient
evidence to pursue Stewart

403
00:24:49,120 –> 00:24:54,840
Rhodes and his ilk as domestic
terrorists before January 6th,

404
00:24:54,880 –> 00:24:57,160
but they sure as hell did after
that day.

405
00:24:57,400 –> 00:25:00,920
It’s worth noting that part of
the FB is lukewarm response in

406
00:25:00,920 –> 00:25:03,960
the lead up to January 6th has
to do with the Department of

407
00:25:03,960 –> 00:25:07,800
Homeland Security failing to
designate the certification of

408
00:25:07,800 –> 00:25:10,280
the election as a national
security event.

409
00:25:10,320 –> 00:25:13,320
If they’d done that, the Secret
Service would have been

410
00:25:13,320 –> 00:25:17,240
responsible for event security,
and the FBI would have been the

411
00:25:17,240 –> 00:25:20,760
lead law enforcement agency on
the intelligence collection side

412
00:25:20,760 –> 00:25:23,440
of things.
Instead, because the Department

413
00:25:23,440 –> 00:25:26,480
of Homeland Security didn’t
issue that designation, these

414
00:25:26,480 –> 00:25:30,680
responsibilities fell to a
combination of the Capitol

415
00:25:30,680 –> 00:25:35,480
Police, the Metro PD, and the US
Park Police, some of the first

416
00:25:35,480 –> 00:25:38,960
names that come to mind when
conducting the kind of

417
00:25:38,960 –> 00:25:42,840
intelligence and security
operation needed to put down a

418
00:25:42,840 –> 00:25:46,200
potential insurrection.
Honestly, that part seems as

419
00:25:46,200 –> 00:25:50,000
scandalous to me as anything
else in this report.

420
00:25:50,000 –> 00:25:53,240
Secret Service is a law
enforcement agency that exists

421
00:25:53,360 –> 00:25:56,240
under the Department of Homeland
Security umbrella.

422
00:25:56,240 –> 00:25:59,240
So designating this as a
national security event would

423
00:25:59,240 –> 00:26:01,720
have meant that they’d have to
be involved in stopping the

424
00:26:01,720 –> 00:26:05,600
violence as opposed to, you
know, helping investigate the

425
00:26:05,600 –> 00:26:08,000
people who carried out the
violence afterward.

426
00:26:08,000 –> 00:26:13,760
By the end of January 2021, the
FBI had opened more than 400

427
00:26:13,760 –> 00:26:18,520
case files and issued more than
500 subpoenas and search

428
00:26:18,520 –> 00:26:23,520
warrants related to the riots.
As of right now, more than 1500

429
00:26:23,520 –> 00:26:26,440
people have been charged with
federal crimes.

430
00:26:26,520 –> 00:26:28,920
According to the Inspector
Generals report, though, the

431
00:26:28,920 –> 00:26:32,320
three informants tasked with
traveling to DC on January 6th,

432
00:26:32,800 –> 00:26:35,960
one of whom entered the Capitol
that day, a clear violation of

433
00:26:35,960 –> 00:26:40,200
laws they were instructed not to
break, are not among those 1500.

434
00:26:40,240 –> 00:26:42,440
Go figure.
But I’m sure we’ll learn all

435
00:26:42,440 –> 00:26:47,320
about them and what they got up
to inside the Capitol someday.

436
00:26:47,440 –> 00:26:51,280
Until then, that concludes this
deep dive into the Inspector

437
00:26:51,280 –> 00:26:55,480
General’s watchdog report about
the FBI and the January 6th

438
00:26:55,720 –> 00:26:58,000
riots.
And hey, thanks for listening to

439
00:26:58,000 –> 00:27:00,800
the pod.
Go to patreon.com slash on pops

440
00:27:00,800 –> 00:27:04,920
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441
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442
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443
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inclined.

444
00:27:12,800 –> 00:27:14,760
And thanks everybody.
I love you.