Trump Repeats False Claim That Biden Planted FBI Agents at Jan. 6 Insurrection
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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Donald Trump; Jan. 6 protestor.Credit :
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty (2)
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump shared a false claim about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on social media this week
- The president posted the popular conspiracy that the "Biden FBI" planted agents in the crowd during the insurrection
- However, Trump himself was president on Jan. 6, not Biden, and the FBI director was a Trump appointee
Donald Trump posted a conspiracy theory on social media this week, but seemed to forget one important fact that immediately disproves it.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, Oct. 12, the president posted on Truth Social, "THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. If this is so, which it is, a lot of very good people will be owed big apologies. What a SCAM - DO SOMETHING!!!"
Despite the all-caps claim, Trump's allegation about the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is impossible, due to the fact that he was president on the day of the insurrection, not Joe Biden, who was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2021.
Additionally, the director of the FBI at the time of the attack was Christopher A. Wray, who was nominated by Trump to replace James Comey shortly after he took office in 2017.
Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty
Following the attack, the Secret Service and FBI estimated that around 10,000 rioters were present at the insurrection, with around 2,000 to 2,500 people ultimately entering the Capitol building. The riot left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer.
By May 2024, around 1,400 people had been charged with federal crimes relating to the event. However, upon taking office for his second term, Trump issued a proclamation granting clemency to many of those convicted and dismissing the cases of others who had been charged.
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Trump suffered his own consequences from the riot. A week after the attack, the House of Representatives voted 232-197 in favor of impeaching him for a second time for his role in the insurrection. The outgoing president delivered a speech to the crowd of his supporters prior to the attack, urging them to take action as he claimed Biden's victory was the result of election fraud.
"We fight like hell," Trump told the crowd, who breached the Capitol building shortly after. "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
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In October 2024, a 165-page Justice Department document was unsealed, revealing another of Trump's statements from the day.
In addition to prominent members of Congress, the crowd of rioters targeted then-Vice President Mike Pence, who had released a statement earlier in the day, stating that he didn't have the constitutional power — or any intention — to intervene with the country's vote.
Trump then took to X to tell his followers that Pence lacked "the courage" to do as he was told and refuse to certify the electoral college votes. During the riot, Pence narrowly avoided the mob as they chanted about hanging him.
According to the Justice Department document, however, Trump's response to hearing that his vice president's life was in danger was simple and shocking: "So what?"
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His dementia is so bad, that he has forgotten he was President on January 6, 2021, and also that he is President right now. I wonder who he thinks it is who will “do something.”
Mere details. /s