FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly refuted President Donald Trump’s claims about agents in the crowd during the January 6 Capitol riots.

The president announced on his Truth Social page Saturday night that 274 undercover agents were present at the riots, suggesting they were ‘acting as provocateurs and insurrectionists.’

But Patel clarified on Sunday that the agents were simply sent to the US Capitol to help with crowd control at the behest of Capitol Police.

The FBI director stated, during an interview with Fox News, that ‘Agents were dispatched for crowd control after the riot was declared by Metro Police – a move that contradicts FBI procedures,’ criticizing his predecessor, former Director Christopher Wray.

‘This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened,’ he continued. 

Patel concluded by saying, ‘Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now unearthing the truth,’ following his promise months ago to obtain ‘definitive answers’ about the bureau’s involvement in the riots.

‘We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability,’ he said as Trump demanded an investigation into Wray’s actions.

He had written in a post on Saturday that the former FBI director ‘has some major explaining to do’ following a report that more than 200 agents were in the crowd during the Capitol riot.

FBI Director Kash Patel has refuted President Donald Trump’s remarks about FBI agents in the crowd during the January 6 Capitol riots

Patel insisted that agents were simply sent to the insurrection to help with crowd control

‘It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to and during the January 6th Hoax,’ the president wrote, citing the report from The Blaze. 

‘That is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again!’

‘That’s right, as it 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,”‘ he claimed.

Trump then said he wanted to know the identities of each agent at the scene and what they were doing at the US Capitol that day.

‘Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their country,’ the president said of those who were arrested for their role in the insurrection.

‘I owe this investigation of “Dirty Cops and Crooked Politicians” to them!’

Trump also noted that ‘That’s two in a row, [James] Comey and Wray, who were caught LYING with our Great Country at stake’ just days after Comey – Wray’s predecessor – was indicted for making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice.

‘WE CAN NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN TO AMERICA AGAIN,’ the president concluded. 

He then doubled down on his remarks in an interview with NBC News on Sunday, when he accused Wray of ‘inappropriate behavior’ during his tenure as the head of the bureau and said he ‘would think’ the Department of Justice would investigate him.

The president claimed on his Truth Social page Saturday night that 274 plainclothes agents were at the scene of the riots

He insinuated the agents were ‘acting as agitators and insurrectionists’ as he hit out at former FBI Director Christopher Wray

The Blaze cited an unidentified senior congressional source in its reporting that 274 agents were at the Capitol riots.

That unidentified official told the outlet that the number of agents wasn’t ‘necessarily a surprise’ because the bureau often ’embeds countersurveillance personnel at large events.’ 

But at least some of the 274 agents included in the official’s numbers were downtown responding to pipe bombs placed near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters the night before.

There is no indication that FBI agents were involved in the breach of the Capitol.

Discrepancies over the number of agents at the Capitol riot may also still remain, as The Blaze report notes there may have been confusion regarding ‘plainclothes’ and ‘undercover’ agents.     

Adding to the confusion is former Director Wray’s refusal to state whether any agents or sources were embedded in the crowd at the Stop the Steal rally.

When he was questioned by members of the House committee investigating the January 6 riots in November 2023, Wray simply said that ‘the violence at the Capitol’ was not ‘part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents.’ 

Wray testified in November 2023 that ‘the violence at the Capitol’ was not ‘part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents’

A damning report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI had more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol

However, a damning report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI had more than two dozen confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol – and three were assigned by the bureau to be at the protest.

Of those three, one illegally entered the Capitol building, and the other two entered the restricted area around the Capitol. 

The report also noted that none of the confidential sources were authorized to enter the Capitol or break the law or ‘encourage others to commit illegal acts.’

But it also claimed there was one confidential human source who was in contact with the leadership of far-right groups such as the Oath Keepers, and were aware of plans discussed by the Proud Boys to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Patel has since said that the report – entitled the FBI’s Handling of its Confidential Human Sources and Intelligence Collection Efforts in the Lead Up to the Jan 6, 2021 Electoral Certification – is ‘definitely a piece of the truth.’