It was Donald Trump who sent his already compromised followers into the J6 trap at the Capitol. It was clear to everybody beforehand that violence was very likely to occur and that radical activist circles were infiltrated by government agencies. Trump had used Christopher C. Miller to keep the D.C. National Guard on the shortest leash and “protect the demonstrators”.
Whining about an FBI orechestration after the fact is just shifting the blame.
FBI director Wray and Mike Pence shoot down the idea that the Bureau had orchestrated the Jan 6 events. The initial reaction of the MAGA-conspiracy crowd is to call anything they don’t like “fake” or “staged”. The FBI on the other hand has a history of bending and breaking the law when it comes to infiltrating groups.
The initial mind-bending reaction of the MAGAs was to describe the hard core of the rioters, especially inside the capitol, as Antifa-activists dressed as Trump supporters. Over the following days and weeks virtually all of the rioters were properly identified. MAGAs still cling to the fantasy of Trump having won in 2020 and they paint the riots either as insignificant or as FBI entrapment. The Democrats rather try to legalize illegal migrants and get them as voters. They dont take a silly risk of fabricating millions of votes.
Rightwing activists didn’t properly check information and sources leading up to the capitol riots. Sometimes they even believed nonsensical Q postings on the web about a major upcoming operation called “the Storm” to arrest Democrats. Influencers like Steve Pieczenik preached a very similiar storyline on shows such as Alex Jones’. Fox News broacast claims the staff didn’t really believe in and which caused massive financial damage due to lawsuits from voting machines manufacturers. Trump’s inner circle operated in the shadows and the many activists had little idea about what Trump was going to do. Fantasies ciculated about calling up Marines and other forces to save America. In fact, the most loyal Trump followers had the most unrealistic ideas about Trump himself.
Of the 2000 rioters entering the building a fraction belonged to goups like “Oath Keepers” and “Proud Boys”. Not only were most rioters unaware of the militia’s plans, most of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in general were not in the loop about their leadership’s plans for that day. On December 20, the Proud Boys leadership handpicked existing members to form a new chapter called the “Ministry of Self Defense” in charge of “national rally planning”.
Many activists had little sense of security beforehand. On January 1, the operator of an obscure website about tunnels under Capitol noticed a huge spike in traffic to the site, prompting him to notify the FBI of a likely upcoming attack on the building. From December 29 to January 5, the FBI and its field offices warned of armed protests at every state capitol and reported plans by Trump supporters that included violence.
Three days before the Capitol attack, the Capitol Police intelligence unit circulated a 12-page internal memo warning that Trump supporters see the day of the Electoral College vote count “as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election” and could use violence against “Congress itself” on that date.
It was the responsibility of activists to understand beforehand that violence was coming and this could turn into a PR nightmare for the MAGA movement. It’s not enough to wine about entrapment and FBI orchestration after the fact. What did activists do to reduce the threat of a fiasco?
Senator Mitt Romney contacted Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell:
I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require.”
On January 3, all ten living former defense secretaries released an open letter in which they expressed concerns about a potential military coup to overturn the election results, mentioning the recently-appointed acting secretary of defense Christopher Miller by name. That day, Trump ordered Miller to “do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators” on January 6. The next day, Miller signed a memo severely limiting the ability of the D.C. National Guard to deploy without his personal permission. Since his appointment in March 2018, D.C. National Guard commanding major general William J. Walker had standing orders to respond to civil disturbances in the district, but on January 5, Walker received new orders from Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy forbidding him to respond to a civil disturbance without explicit prior approval from McCarthy and Miller. Previously, he had authority to respond without first seeking permission.
President Trump gave a speech, declaring that he would “never concede” the election, criticized the media, and called for Pence to overturn the election results, something outside Pence’s constitutional power. He told the crowd that he would be with them, but he ultimately did not go to the Capitol.
Some of the protestors began invading the Capitol, apparently under the illusion they were part of historical events. Trump would back them, the Democrats would back down and it will be a happy ending with “proud boys” receiving medals and being famous forever.
However the riot lost its steam and more police arrived. At 4:22 p.m., Trump issued a video message to supporters on social media, finally telling them to “go home”. Capitol Police leadership had not planned for a riot or attack,[352] and on January 6, under “orders from leadership”, the force deployed without riot gear, shields, batons, or “less lethal” arms such as sting grenades. Department riot shields had been improperly stored, causing them to shatter upon impact. Hundreds more Capitol Police could have been used, but they were not.
It was apparently Trump who lured his followers into a trap, not the “Democrats/Globalists”.
Infiltration game
Timothy McVeigh was a typical truther of his day and age, filled with rage and anxiety over America being ruled by the UN and patriots ending up in concentration camps. The novel “Turner Diaries” inspired him to commit terrorism. There are interesting discrepancies in the story, but no series of smoking guns as claimed by conspiracy activists. Every single time they will call an event they don’t like “fake” or “staged”. They view the pandemic as fake and staged, as well as the core reasons to defend Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression. It may be down to the FBI, Homeland Security and the BATFE that we haven’t seen fifty new McVeighs and OKC style bombings. But there is always the danger of someone in government subtly sabotaging an investigation to let someone’s attack plan progress further than it needs to.
Activists on the conservative spectrum need their own counter-intelligence. They can’t simply rely on activism to whine about the government agencies. Especially after the fact, like with January 6th. Activists do not even remotely show a meticulous process when it comes to vetting other activists, vetting information, protecting their information or planning operations.
Anybody who wants to work in intelligence has to undergo a vetting process that extends to this person’s private life and relatives. Activists simply look for ideological agreement, emotions and excitement. Every rookie intelligence asset in training has to constantly re-check information, the sources, possible biases and signs of deception. A CIA foreign asset is expected to waslk away from an operation if t feels “off” and the risk factors are too high.
Activists have no such sense of discernment. FBI work can be slow and painstaking. One threshold after the other has to be met in order to progress to the next stage of an investigation and maintain within the boundaries of the law. Activists will happily join crazy adventures.
Decades ago it was already leaked that surveillance could take place without a court order against people who had not been charged with a crime. The FBI calls such investigations “assessments.”
The words CIA and NSA are no longer redacted in Section 20.2 of the 2021 Rulebook, while the full details of the section remain hidden from the public. A leaked, unredacted copy of the 2011 FBI rule book obtained by The Intercept shows that Section 20.2 covers assessments in which the FBI uses other agencies. Information obtained through CIA and NSA searches can be used in assessments and predictive investigations, according to the leaked 2011 rulebook. The so-called FBI “assessments” require only an “authorized purpose” and a clear objective; no search warrant.
Activists may indulge in illegal drugs, dodge taxes, defy weapons laws and commit other crimes habitually. The FBI can recruit such people aggressively and even decide to trap more folks in a short amount of time. With drug investigations it was not uncommon to demand a suspect call up two friends and set up drug deals. Many righwting activists hate the government so much they break laws on a regular basis, yet hardly anyone is willing to serve ten years or more in prison when offered a “way out”.
Activists often don’t know their comrades too well and neither all the laws.
Old scandals
In 1971, a group of eight activists staged one of the most impressive acts of defiance of the Vietnam War era when they broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole every document they found. The activists, calling themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, began leaking shocking details of FBI abuses to the media. The documents exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI’s secret counterintelligence program, a global, secret, unconstitutional practice of surveillance, infiltration and disruption of groups committed to protest, dissent and social change. Targets included Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the Young Lords, anti-war groups, black booksellers and other organizations.
Members of the KuKluxKlan beat up other activists and were protected by the police. The FBI knew about the operation in advance without intervening. Ultimately, there were also far-reaching disintegration measures against the KKK. Newly unearthed documents have shed new light on the FBI’s role in the murder of 21-year-old Black Panther leader Fred Hampton on Dec. 4, 1969, when Chicago police raided Hampton’s apartment and shot him in his bed along with his colleague Black Panther leader Mark Clark. Authorities initially claimed that the Panthers opened fire on police who were there to serve a search warrant for weapons, but evidence later emerged telling a very different story: the FBI, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the police of Chicago had conspired to assassinate Fred Hampton. FBI memos and reports from historian and writer Aaron Leonard now show that high-ranking FBI officials played a key role in planning the raid and the subsequent cover-up. “It was approved at the highest level,” says attorney Jeff Haas.
