FBI Director Wray knocks down conspiracy theory that January 6 rioters were ‘fake Trump protesters’

FBI Director Wray knocks down conspiracy theory that January 6 rioters were 'fake Trump protesters'

By Zachary Cohen and Katelyn Polantz, CNN

Updated 1739 GMT (0139 HKT) March 2, 2021

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Washington (CNN)FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers Tuesday that the FBI has not seen any evidence indicating that the rioters who took part in the January 6 US Capitol attack were "fake Trump protesters," knocking down a baseless claim that has been pushed by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in recent weeks as he has sought to downplay the violence committed by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Testifying publicly for the first time since pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol nearly two months ago, Wray was pressed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin on whether the FBI has seen any evidence that individuals involved in the January 6 attack were posing as Trump supporters — a claim the Illinois Democrat called "the next big lie."

"We have not seen evidence of that, at this stage, certainly," Wray responded when Durbin asked if he had seen any evidence the riot was organized by "fake Trump protesters," referring to comments Johnson made during a Senate hearing last week in which he also claimed those involved in the attack were "agents provocateurs."

Most Republicans on the panel did not embrace these conspiracies, but the baseless claim that left-wing infiltrators were responsible for the violent attack has been promoted by Trump's impeachment lawyers, several GOP lawmakers and at least one speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week.

On Tuesday, Wray made clear that Antifa and other left-wing groups were not part of the violence on January 6 — even as several Republicans sought to use the hearing as an opportunity to highlight the threat posed by those groups rather than focus on the Capitol attack.

"We have not, to date, seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to Antifa in connection to the 6th," Wray told the Senate committee.

More than 260 defendants — many of them professing allegiance to Trump, disgust for Congress, and supportive of revolution — have been charged in federal court related to their actions in and around the US Capitol siege on January 6.

Previously, nearly a dozen Trump supporters charged in connection with the US Capitol insurrection have said that Antifa and other left-wing groups weren't involved in the attack, further debunking the conspiracy among Trump supporters.