FBI informant trying to clear the Proud Boys

The FBI had an informant [affiliated with a Midwest chapter of the far-right group the Proud Boys] in the crowd during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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The informant has since denied that the Proud Boys intended to use violence on Jan. 6 but rather were consumed by a herd mentality. He has also denied that the group planned to attack the Capitol in interviews, the Times reported.

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Reuters reported in early August that the FBI has found little evidence to suggest that the attack was largely coordinated.

While groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were intent on entering the Capitol, officials told Reuters that there appeared to be no coordinated plans regarding what they would do once they broke into the building.

  The Hill

Other than stop the electoral count and overthrow the election?

[T]he new information is likely to complicate the government’s efforts to prove the high-profile conspiracy charges it has brought against several members of the Proud Boys.

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Moreover, the records indicate that F.B.I. officials in Washington were alerted in advance of the attack that the informant was traveling to the Capitol with several other Proud Boys.

The F.B.I. also had an additional informant with ties to another Proud Boys chapter that took part in the sacking of the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter, raising questions about the quality of the bureau’s informants and what sorts of questions they were being asked by their handlers before Jan. 6.

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The new information was revealed at a time when misinformation continues to circulate among far-right commentators and websites accusing the F.B.I. of having used informants or agents to stage the attack on Jan. 6. But if anything, the records appear to show that the informant’s F.B.I. handler was slow to grasp the gravity of what was happening that day. And the records show that the informant traveled to Washington at his own volition, not at the request of the F.B.I.

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The informant, who started working with the F.B.I. in July 2020, appears to have been close to several other members of his Proud Boys chapter, including some who have been charged in the attack. But it is not clear from the records obtained by The Times how well he knew the group’s top leaders or whether he was in the best position to learn about potential plans to storm the Capitol.

  NYT

The informant sounds like someone who was already part of the Proud Boys, and not an FBI agent who infiltrated the group. How credible is his information?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.