Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials have disclosed that more than 5,000 of the bureau’s agents and analysts, were assigned to investigate January 6 protestors in connection with the 2021 Capitol riot.
The revelation of how many bureau employees were tasked with pursuing J6 protestors was labeled by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk as “an insane misallocation of resources.”
Shortly after President Trump took office last month, the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) ordered FBI officials to turn over the details of personnel involved in the J6 riot cases.
NBC News reported that senior FBI officials had considered resisting the request out of concern that they and the involved agents might face potential punishment but ultimately decided that they would comply with what their lawyers regarded to be a lawful order.
In complying with the order, bureau officials handed over employee ID numbers, job titles and their role in the January 6 investigations but did not provide the names of individual agents.
On Tuesday, some FBI agents filed suit against the DOJ accused it of violating the Constitution and privacy laws by requiring the agents to complete a survey detailing their roles in the J6 investigations.
The FBI employs 13,000 agents and roughly 38,000 total employees, raising serious questions about why so many bureau resources spent nearly 4 years tracking down 1600 protestors, who were charged mostly with misdemeanors like parading on Capitol grounds, rather than pursuing violent criminals and terrorists.
What makes these investigations, arrests and prosecutions notable is that the people they were going after were overwhelmingly non-violent individuals who had no criminal history.
Yet the FBI still chose to send heavily armed SWAT teams on early morning raids to carry out the roundup of suspected J6 protestors.
📺 WATCH over 10 mins of security camera footage from across 🇺🇸 as the @FBI SWAT conducts 4 years of 6AM raids of American homes
Rifle lasers pointed at kids; home security cameras covered up; trauma causing miscarriages
Millions of dollars spent jailing political prisoners pic.twitter.com/KwesISOZjA
— NOVA Campaigns (@NoVA_Campaigns) December 3, 2024
In light of the seriousness with which a politicized FBI went after people who essentially were jaywalking on federal property versus going after actual threats like child traffickers, drug lords and Donald Trump’s two would-be assassins, it may be time for a bit of housecleaning in the bureau.
Start the discussion at community.amgreatness.com