After grilling FBI Director Chris Wray five days ago on whether the FBI engaged in a cover-up related to the origins of the coronavirus, on June 15, 2021, Congressman Matt Gaetz sent a letter to Wray seeking answers and clarification on critical questions related to the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Referencing a June 8th joint report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, Gaetz's letter states the report highlights multiple problems, including "federal intelligence agencies failing to warn of a potential for violence, to a lack of planning and preparation by U.S. Capitol Police and law enforcement leadership."
The 95-page report addresses the security, planning, and response failures of the entities directly responsible for Capitol security. Specifically, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) and the Capitol Police Board, which is comprised of the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol as voting members, and the USCP Chief as a non-voting member. The report also focuses on critical breakdowns involving numerous federal agencies, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Department of Defense (DOD).
The Executive Summary of the report concludes that, despite being aware of threats, neither the DHS nor the FBI issued formal intelligence bulletins about the potential for violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, which hindered law enforcement's preparations for the Joint Session of Congress. It also determined that neither agency considered online posts calling for violence at the Capitol as credible.
Congressman Gaetz, who expects an answer from Director Wray's office by Aug. 1, 2021, seeks answers to three specific questions:
- In the year leading up to the events of 1/6 and during 1/6 itself, to what extent were the three primary militia groups (the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and the Three Percenters) infiltrated by agencies of the federal government (including the FBI), or informants of said agencies?
- Exactly how many federal undercover agents or confidential informants were present at the Capitol or in the Capitol during the "siege" and what roles did they play (merely passive informants or active instigators)?
- Of all the unindicted co-conspirators referenced in the charging documents of those indicted for crimes on 1/6, how many worked as a confidential informant or as an undercover operative for the federal government (FBI, Army Counterintelligence, etc.)?
Prior to Gaetz's letter to Director Wray, on June 10, during a House Judiciary Oversight Committee meeting concerning events of Jan. 6, Rep. Jim Jordan asked Wray why, during a raid of a home in Homer, Alaska, the FBI took a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution.
In a remarkable case of mistaken identity gone wrong, on Apr. 28, 2021, twelve agents from the FBI, Capitol Police, and other bureaus broke down the door to the home of Marilyn and Paul Hueper and ordered them to put their hands up. The agents handcuffed the couple and their guests while they interrogated them and searched their home. When he came out of his bedroom, Paul Hueper counted seven guns trained on him. The agents were looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's laptop computer, as well as any evidence, such as clothing, that would prove Marilyn Hueper was actually inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Marilyn said the agents told her she had been positively ID'd as being inside the Capitol Building that day. They showed her a photo of someone that they claimed to be her. Marilyn told them it was not her, and the agent, who implied she was lying and obstructing justice, replied, "so you want to go there?" Towards the end of the search, agents showed Marilyn a photo where the face was visible, and she could prove it wasn't her.
Screenshot /www.wethepeoplestand.org
The couple—who has not heard from the FBI directly since the raid—has filed a Rebuttal and Claim to the U.S. District Court in Anchorage where the warrant was originated. Besides their experience with the FBI, they note on their website that it is equally disturbing to learn from others about the agency's unlawful invasions of Alaskans and other Americans who have been unjustly accosted, and most, if not all, have not known what to do about it. For this reason, they believe they mustn't remain silent and hope others will follow and join them in holding our Civil Servants accountable. They declare:
"As we step out, it's our hope that many more will follow. Each American needs to begin holding our Civil Servants accountable to their Oaths to uphold and protect Our Rights. We The People are the only lawful oversight who can properly do so. But we have been off the job for too long, and as exemplified here, things have reached dire straights. We have to wake up and take appropriate lawful action as allowed by Our Constitution. If not us, who? If not now, when? We may not have much time left to act before Our Rights are confiscated from all of us... permanently!"
