FBI Director Kash Patel is accusing former Director Christopher Wray of misleading Congress about the role of FBI agents at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Patel stated that hundreds of agents were deployed to the Capitol during the riot, contradicting Wray’s testimony and raising new questions about the FBI’s involvement in the events of that day.
In an interview with Fox News, Patel said that FBI agents were sent in as crowd control, not undercover operatives, and only after the Capitol breach had already begun. He emphasized that there is no evidence the FBI had agents embedded to provoke violence, but made clear that Wray failed to inform Congress about the scale and timing of the bureau’s presence. Patel called Wray’s testimony “a D.C. response” that concealed the facts from lawmakers and the public.
The revelations come after the Department of Justice Inspector General reported in December 2024 that 26 confidential human sources were present at or near the Capitol on January 6. Some of these informants entered restricted areas, but the IG found no evidence they were acting under FBI orders to incite violence. The report concluded that none of the informants acted as undercover provocateurs and that the FBI did not send operatives into the crowd to trigger the unrest.
Still, Patel insists that Wray deliberately withheld key information about the deployment of federal agents and misled Congress. He said that such a large mobilization, even if reactive, should have been fully disclosed in sworn testimony.
This dispute has intensified political battles within Washington over the conduct of the FBI during and after January 6. Critics on the left accuse Patel of politicizing the bureau, while conservatives argue that Wray and other former officials were part of a broader pattern of deception. Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff recently accused Patel of replacing professional expertise with “rabid partisanship,” signaling increased partisan hostility toward the new leadership.
The controversy adds fuel to ongoing concerns among conservatives that federal agencies operated without transparency during critical moments of national crisis. With Patel now at the helm of the FBI under President Trump, calls for accountability and institutional reform have gained new momentum.
