Proponents of Jan. 6 conspiracy theories are probably accustomed to embarrassing setbacks, but last week was especially brutal. The Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, unveiled the detailed findings of a four-year investigation, which concluded that while there were FBI informants at the Capitol, no FBI officials were responsible for instigating the attack.
Once these revelations were released, Donald Trump, left with no choice, grudgingly acknowledged reality.
No, I’m just kidding. The president-elect actually published an item to his social media platform, shortly before midnight on Friday night, that cynically tried to move the goalposts.
“Wow! This is big news,” the Republican wrote. “What a disgrace. Let J-6 Hostages out NOW!!!”
This came on the heels of Vice President-elect JD Vance taking a related step, pretending that humiliating news for Jan. 6 conspiracy theorists should actually be seen as evidence that helps Jan. 6 conspiracy theorists.
But these efforts are literally unbelievable. As we discussed last week, too many Republicans and their allies have spent nearly four years pushing the idea that federal law enforcement instigated the insurrectionist assault. The absurd claims grew so common that they were given a name: The “fedsurrection“ narrative was rooted in the idea that it was the FBI, and not Trump’s rabid followers, that was responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
This has never made any sense. As a Washington Post analysis noted last week, “If the bureau’s leaders disliked Trump (even though the FBI director was appointed by him), they only had to wait two weeks for him to be out of office.”
Nevertheless, we already knew — from congressional investigations and multiple federal court cases — that the conspiracy theory was baseless. To the extent that there were still any lingering doubts, the Justice Department’s inspector general erased them in unambiguous detail.
To hear Trump tell it, the fact that the Jan. 6 mob included some who were confidential FBI informants is evidence of a “disgrace.” But that’s preposterous: The far-right conspiracy theory wasn’t that the Jan. 6 mob included some who were confidential FBI informants. We already knew this. Some even testified during Jan. 6 criminal cases.
Rather, the conspiracy theory was that the FBI was somehow responsible for instigating the attack and entrapping Trump’s poor, unsuspecting supporters. Horowitz’s report — the one the president-elect seemed so excited about — discredited the bizarre idea. Not only did the IG conclude that the FBI informants weren’t authorized or encouraged to break the law, but the same findings made clear that there were no undercover FBI employees at the Capitol, either.








