Musk, Vance seize on Jan. 6 report debunking FBI claims as proof of conspiracy
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Elon Musk, Donald Trump and JD Vance prior to a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on Oct. 5. Photo: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President-elect Trump's inner circle rushed to claim a report acknowledging that FBI informants (but not undercover agents) were present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as proof of a baseless right wing belief that the bureau instigated the riot despite the report saying the opposite.
Why it matters: Vice President-elect Vance, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in their social media posts falsely conflated the FBI's acknowledgement that several informants were at the riot and even entered the Capitol with a long-running conspiracy theory that the FBI staged the attack to discredit then-President Trump. The report explicitly said that no FBI employees were present and that no FBI informants were authorized to participate.
- For years, right-wing media personalities and politicians have promoted the conspiracy theory.
- Musk's team didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
- Incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung did not answer Axios' questions when reached for comment.
Driving the news: The Justice Department's Inspector General put those theories to rest in a new report Thursday that shed new light on the activities of the FBI on the day of the insurrection.
- The bureau had no undercover employees at the U.S. Capitol or rally at the Ellipse that day, the report stated.
- The FBI did, however, have 26 informants in Washington, D.C., that day, some of whom were tasked with reporting on "domestic terrorism subjects."
- The informants were not authorized to enter the Capitol or other restricted areas or to break the law — or to encourage others to break the law, the report stated.
- Some of the informants nevertheless did enter the restricted areas, though none have been prosecuted for taking part in the violence.
The big picture: Although the report established the FBI was not involved in spurring the events of Jan. 6, members of Trump's incoming administration propped up the presence of the informants as proof of the exact opposite.
- "For those keeping score at home, this was labeled a dangerous conspiracy theory months ago," Vance wrote on X Thursday after reposting a story about the 26 informants.
- Musk, one of Trump's most powerful backers, reposted Vance's missive and wrote: "What's the difference between a 'right-wing conspiracy' and reality? About 6 months."
- Vivek Ramaswamy crowed on X that if someone had "uttered the facts" in the report a year ago, they would have been branded a "conspiracy theorist."
- "It's also notable that the IG report came out literally the day after Christopher Wray resigned," Ramaswamy added.
Zoom out: Many senior officials and cabinet members of the incoming Trump administration are steeped in supposed conspiracies about the very government agencies they're about to oversee.
- Trump himself — who has loudly promoted conspiracy theories about former President Obama and the 2020 election — has attempted to downplay the deadly Capitol riot, claiming a "peaceful transfer of power" took place after his 2020 loss.
Go deeper: Trump's conspiracy cabinet is about to take over the deep state
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.
