An FBI informant who marched to the U.S. Capitol with fellow Proud Boys members said he didn't know of any plans for the far-right group to invade the building that day.
The informant was communicating with his FBI handler as the mob of Trump supporters breached police barricades at the Capitol on"Barriers down at capital building. Crowd surged forward, almost to the building now," the informant texted. In another message, he wrote that the Proud Boys"did not do it, nor inspire."
The presence of government informants in the far-right group has repeatedly come up in the lengthy trial, raising fresh questions about intelligence failures in the days before the riot. A U.S. Senate report examining security failures surrounding the riot found that law enforcement had intelligence leading up to Jan. 6 that some Trump supporters were threatening violence and planning a siege to stop the certification of Biden's victory.
The informant said his relationship with the FBI began around 2008, roughly eight years before Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes formed the Proud Boys. He said the FBI didn't ask him to join the Proud Boys or direct him to gather information about the group. Jurors have also heard testimony from two other former Proud Boys members who agreed to cooperate with the government after they were charged with riot-related crimes. Those government witnesses, Matthew Greene and Jeremy Bertino, both testified they didn't know of any specific plan to storm the Capitol.
"Do what must be done," Tarrio wrote on social media as the mob stormed the Capitol. Later that day, someone asked in an encrypted group chat what they should do next.
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