The attorney says at least 13 undercover, plain-clothes Metropolitan Police Department agents were amid the crowd of protesters.
Law enforcement agencies had at least 40 undercover informants at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot engaging in surveillance work, says an attorney for one of the protesters charged in the incident.
The allegation was made Wednesday in a court filing by Roger Roots, the attorney for Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys.
Pezzola is standing trial in a federal court in Washington, D.C., with the group’s former national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl on charges including allegedly conspiring to oppose the transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election, according to the Daily Caller news outlet.
Roots states in his court filing the federal government has admitted that eight FBI confidential human sources were among the Proud Boys at the riot.
He also states the Homeland Security Investigations agency appeared to have roughly 19 informants active at the time and that at least 13 undercover plain-clothes Metropolitan Police Department agents were amid the crowd of protesters.
“Some of these undercover Metro officers marched with the Proud Boy,” Roots said. “And some appear to have played roles of instigators, in that they are seen on body-worn videos chanting ‘Go! Go!,’ ‘Stop the Steal!,’ and ‘Whose house? Our house!’ on Jan. 6. Others generally followed demonstrators toward the Capitol,” the Daily Caller also reports.
By Joseph Weber
