Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated - sources

[Calista241]

Source: Reuters

The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.

Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

Stone, a veteran Republican operative and self-described "dirty trickster", and Jones, founder of a conspiracy-driven radio show and webcast, are both allies of Trump and had been involved in pro-Trump events in Washington on Jan. 5, the day before the riot.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Uh-huh.

[Walleye]

2. Well it wasn't organized like the mafia if that's what they mean

Just because the mafia is much more capable than the assholes who attacked us January 6

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. Yes. Don't want a Hawley or a Haley organizing a real one 2024. tRump thankfully was incompetent. nt

[EarlG]

3. I can believe that nothing was "officially" coordinated, but

the fact is that this whole thing was clearly set in motion by TFG and his cronies -- he fanned the flames, whipped his followers into a frenzy, and on Jan. 6 pointed them at the Capitol Building. And he didn't tell them to stop when he could have.

Whether there was official coordination or not, Trump is clearly responsible.

[GPV]

7. Agreed. He channeled them there and left them to figure it out.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

8. He was president (sic.)

It was as official as he gets.

[TheProle]

22. Succinctly stated

and on the mark.

[yaesu]

4. Is this the same FBI that sunk HRC & gave us 4 yrs of tRump, I think I will have to take their

conclusion with a grain of salt.

[Lonestarblue]

5. Sorry. After four years of Trump loyalists being added to the FBI, I'm skeptical.

I think it’s likely that many of the insurrectionists simply went along with the mob, but when you have a mob that goes to a city specifically to stop the certification of an election, it takes only a few at the top to get all those others becoming their foot soldiers. It only takes one small group, like the Oath Keepers, to plan and execute the whole attack.

[Mersky]

6. +1 for the first 4 comments

I agree with all of what they all said. Had precisely similar thoughts.

[RockRaven]

9. So 5 percent of the criminals, including the most dangerous, WERE coordinated/organized.

The coordination was not centralized to one person, but in parallel by several like-minded groups.

Does anyone else feel like the available lesson is purposely not being learned here?

[natetheskate]

10. Director Wray needs to resign

I believe Director Wray needs to resign or be fired. He is not doing a good job at catching the insurrectionist and he lied about the Kavanagh investigation which needs to be opened again. We might demand the Dems start investigating all those involved in the January 6th insurrections including those that planned it and those that supported it with money. Have you notice we have not heard one word from Ginny Thomas who based on things I read at that time she helped organized people to come to the capitol. Can someone verify that thanks

[onetexan]

28. +1 K&R

[marble falls]

29. How long does it take your local prosecuter to get a person in front of a grand jury, indicted ...

... bound over, arraigned, though hearings and depositions and on trial? About two years.

The FBI has had two tasks: sweeping out the 45-ites, and picking up the threads of a beat to shit cases against people that started or finished under the 45-ites.

Biden has barely been in eight months. Cool your jets.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

42. +1. . . nt

[llashram]

11. bullshit

with a heaping pile of more bullshit... trying to make amurikkka look great again. Ain't going to happen as long as repthugs are marching to trump's drum...

[MiHale]

12. Setting the stage...

for putting this all in the past and moving on. “One off” sounds like “Let’s not be too hard on them just caught up in the events of the day”

We will never see the justice The Insurrection participants deserve, non-elected or elected.

[harumph]

13. Do these former and current law enforcement officials speak officially for the FBI?

Then pardon me if I ignore their opine-farts.

It's called stochastic terrorism

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/12/trump-stochastic-terrorism-violence-rhetoric/

[atreides1]

14. Right

The FBI isn't trustworthy and the DoJ attorneys handling these cases are doing their best to give these people a slap on the wrist!

It wasn't the vaunted FBI that discovered a man with a plea deal had assaulted police officers on 1/6...once that info came out the US had to withdraw his plea deal...so the FBI and some elements of the Justice Department are either lazy or aren't interested in justice!!!

[C_U_L8R]

15. They were freaking advertising and organizing on Facebook !!

We all saw it as it happened.
They even had t-shirts and other swag manufactured boasting CIVIL WAR.

And there was no coordination? BULLSHIT.

[Olestro]

16. This article is suspect. Good twitter thread to debunk it here...

Link to tweet

[LymphocyteLover]

19. Thanks. Damn I sure hope this isn't some early hangout on a lack of prosecution on conspiracy

[marble falls]

31. The article stinks to high heaven. They want instant justice and instant justice ain't justice.

[PatrickforB]

17. Well we all knew this would happen.

Yep. The fat cats ALWAYS take care of each other.

Besides, plenty of rank and file supporters to use as scapegoats.

Hey, have a few trials. Convict a few drooling, toothless, uneducated, bearded Trump supporters, and viola! The white male power structure will survive!

And isn't THAT really the important thing?

[Me.]

18. My 'Conspiracy' Theory

This so called FBI report is pure bunk

[Deminpenn]

20. In the WaPo book, there's a tick tock

of Jan 6th events. One of them describes Sund and others monitoring what's happening at the Capitol and seeing a contingent of about 300 Proud Boys approaching the Capitol as the rally was still happening.

Imho, there were parallel events.

The white supremacists groups seizing the opportunity of a lifetime to achieve their goal of overthrowing the government. They used the crowd as cover for their plan.

The other cultists had no overall plan except to go to the Capitol. Most of them were swept up in the mob and mob mentality.

In the end, imo, it will turn out that the white supremacists et al used Trump more than Trump used them and their rhetoric to amp up his base.

[BaronChocula]

21. Suuuuuuuuuure

It was just a coincidence all those creeps showed up with tactical gear and bear spray and zip ties. Note to FBI: If ultraconservative white racial neurotics are on your friggin' terror watch list, consider any violence they commit to be coordinated. I mean gawldangit! Why don't you just blame both sides?!

[Xoan]

23. "sources" ...

That nails it.

[Crazyleftie]

24. Statement by a FORMER? agent??????

[sarcasmo]

38. Many people are saying.

[gab13by13]

26. So every fucking seditionist

paid his own way? No one funded any of the coup? If the coup was funded by MF45 donors then it most certainly was coordinated.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

27. Glenn Kirschner's take on this was way different from my initial one:

Hope he is right!

&t=309s

[BootinUp]

30. This has been pretty evident really. Nt

[sarcasmo]

32. Roger Stone and Alex Jones paid Reuters for that article.

[stillcool]

35. theirs are about the only names

in the entire article.

"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. "Then you have five percent, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

[lark]

33. They didn't look because they don't want to know.

Too many of them are sympathizers or this would have been found.

[stillcool]

34. Reuters tells a nice story

with no quotes. At all.

[EarthFirst]

36. Sure; a gallows just materializes on the soft perimeter of The Capital building out of thin air...

No planning. No coordination.

It just organically appeared spur of the moment.

[stopdiggin]

37. mobs are not generally organized

and the 95% were never really the issue (other than to demonstrate to the American people just how mindless and scary that thing called a mob can be). But the real juice here has always been among the 5% (and I suspect that figure is probably towards the high end) and the depth, and integration, of any planning and organization that might have been in play with these few 'operatives.'

[Rhiannon12866]

39. MSNBC just reported the same thing, but Mehdi Hasan showed that Trump is still responsible:

Mehdi Hasan: Why New Reporting On The FBI Jan. 6 Probe Undermines Trump Defense - MSNBC
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017675778

[summer_in_TX]

40. Reuters and Tass entered into a partnership in 2020.

Seems relevant.

TASS News Agency joins Reuters Connect



I also have questions about the judgement and character of Christopher Wray, after the FBI under his direction did not follow up on the tips from women about Brett Kavanaugh before the confirmation hearing. That paired with the surprising lack of preparation for the Jan. 6 Insurrection and ignoring warning signs clearly blinking red makes the fact that he is both a Republican and also a member of the Federalist Society seem salient.

[rockfordfile]

41. They were there to over throw our government. The terrorist were organized

They're traitors. Time for the "proud boys" to be called what they're. Right-wing fascist terrorist. To be a member of that anti-American group is to be arrested. The ones that attacked our country on January 6 should be given the death penalty.

[Ford_Prefect]

43. The headline is overstating the assertion and is unsupported by the article.

The piece itself is more of a collection of observations than an organized presentation. It leaves out much detail and never refers to the GOP front groups or dark money sources who enabled the events, or coordinated the messaging on social media. None of that is addressed at all.

The writer refers to 2 individuals, Stone and Jones, as if they were never more than cheerleaders on the sidelines. Such an omission is to obscure the actions and money spent to by others equally prominent in GOP and RW circles who have been identified.

The lack of a central command agent doesn't mean they were not organized. They were sent as a mob but they were meant to be cover for more dangerous actors.

Mark Hosenball and Sarah N. Lynch have referred to a single off the record source rather than specifics in supporting documents, legal findings or other sources one would expect to see or hear from. This smells like something put out in public to diffuse focus on the people who did put it together, who acted in concert with each other, with White House staff, Trump Campaign staff and leaders, with the president himself, Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, and a host of others. To say nothing of references to Dark Money manipulators who have been named in the press.

To accept at face value what Hosenball and Lynch present is to take an entirely superficial view of the event as if it only happened due to peculiar circumstances of the day. However poorly the insurrection was run it was still an intentional, violent and seemingly coordinated attack on the heart of our Democracy which was clearly intended to accomplish far more than has been remarked about by By Hosenball, Lynch and their multiple editors.

Weak sauce indeed you overpaid assholes! More like aid and comfort to the genuine enemies of the Constitution. Cash those checks before the ink fades and make sure you're paid in US currency.