An FBI agent told the House Judiciary Committee that Deputy Director Paul Abbate suggested that at least 25 FBI confidential human sources, or informants, involved in reporting to the bureau from the Jan. 6, 2021, protest should not be publicly acknowledged.
Many FBI whistleblowers have come forward with their concerns about the bureau as Director Christopher A. Wray is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
They are making allegations of politically motivated investigations, politically biased leadership and misconduct by senior officials at America’s premier law enforcement agency.
According to the whistleblower disclosure sent to the committee, Mr. Abbate notified one or more of his subordinates that the more than 25 informants were too problematic or embarrassing for the FBI to have their existence made known to the public and that the existence, activities and identities of these FBI confidential human sources should not be released.
The Washington Times reached out to the FBI but did not immediately hear back.
In May, George Hill, a whistleblower from the FBI’s Boston field office, testified before the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that agents in Washington refused to share hours of video from the Capitol protest between the offices, because there “may be” undercover officers or confidential human sources on the footage whose identities could be compromised.
Marcus Allen, an FBI intel analyst, allegedly was retaliated against for forwarding information that called into question Mr. Wray’s November testimony to the Senate about whether informants infiltrated groups responsible for Jan. 6 protest.
When Mr. Wray was asked whether the FBI had confidential human sources at the Capitol, he said, “I have to be very careful about what I can say — about when we do and do not and where we have and have not used confidential human sources.”
“But to the extent that there’s a suggestion, for example, that the FBI’s confidential human sources or FBI employees in some way instigated or orchestrated January 6, that’s categorically false,” he said.
Mr. Wray later added, “You should not read anything into my decision not to share anything on confidential human sources” after he did not outright dismiss a question of whether the FBI had those sources dressed as Trump supporters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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