Judicial Watch has released more than 1,000 hours of police body-camera footage from January 6, 2021, raising fresh questions about the FBIs role and the governments narrative surrounding the events at the U.S. Capitol.
According to the Gateway Pundit, the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department turned over 1,630 body-worn camera videos after Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in June 2024. The footage, now posted on the Judicial Watch website, offers an unfiltered look at law enforcement operations that day and is already producing revelations that appear to undercut prior statements by top federal officials.
Among the first to comb through the newly released material was January 6 defendant and investigative journalist Tommy Tatum, who identified a striking exchange between officers discussing the presence of federal agents in the crowd. Tatum, who shared the full Vimeo video with the Gateway Pundit, highlighted a segment at the 12:33 mark in which an officer can be heard saying, "You got 350 FBI agents there ready to deploy."
Tatum publicized the clip on social media Monday evening, drawing immediate attention from those who have long suspected that federal agencies were more deeply embedded in the crowd than officials have admitted. Supporters of Tatum, whom the Gateway Pundit describes as doing terrific work, are being directed to assist him through various crowdfunding and payment platforms as he continues his investigative efforts.
The footage takes on added significance in light of prior testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who has repeatedly downplayed or denied the presence of undercover FBI personnel on January 6. In July 2023, during a contentious exchange with Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Wray insisted that he does not believe undercover FBI agents were present at the U.S. Capitol on that day.
Pressed by Biggs on how many undercover agents were in or around the Capitol, Wray claimed he could not provide a number and even cast doubt on whether any such agents were there at all. Im not sure there were undercover agents on scene, Wray told Biggs, adding, As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover agents on.
Biggs later blasted Wrays testimony on social media, accusing the FBI chief of misleading Congress. The Arizona Republican wrote that "Wray will be held accountable for this lie," signaling that House conservatives view the directors statements as part of a broader pattern of obfuscation by the Bureau.
Biggs further noted that "FBI Director Wray just told me he 'does not believe' there were any undercover FBI agents in or around the U.S. Capitol on January 6. This claim has been already debunkedincluding by the former U.S. Capitol Police Chief," he added, underscoring the widening gap between Wrays assertions and other official accounts.
That gap has only grown as more information has emerged from within the federal government itself. The Washington, D.C., FBI Field Office has previously acknowledged that undercover officers, confidential informants, and FBI assets were indeed present in and around the Capitol on January 6, contradicting Wrays carefully hedged denials.
In September 2025, the FBI finally admitted it had 274 plainclothes agents embedded in the massive crowds that converged on Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. This figure was hundreds more than was previously reported, suggesting a far more extensive federal footprint than Americans had been led to believe.
The Blaze reported that a senior congressional source was not entirely surprised by the number, noting that the FBI often deploys countersurveillance personnel at large events. Still, given the Bureaus persistent refusal to disclose its operational presence at the Capitol, the revelation is likely to fuel skepticism about what else has been concealed from the public and from Congress.
Compounding the confusion is a December 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, which appeared to exonerate the FBI of running undercover personnel in the January 6 crowds. We found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6, the DOJ OIG stated in its 88-page report.
This official finding stands in stark tension with subsequent admissions about plainclothes agents and with the on-the-ground accounts now emerging from the newly released bodycam footage. For many on the right, the discrepancy reinforces a long-standing concern: that federal agencies have been more focused on protecting their own image than on providing a transparent accounting of their actions.
As the Gateway Pundit has previously reported, there is mounting evidence that dozens if not hundreds of government operatives from multiple agencies infiltrated the protests at the U.S. Capitol. The outlet says it has identified 20 separate confirmed incidents and operations involving federal, state, and local operatives who blended into the Trump-supporting crowds and, in some cases, helped lead events on the ground.
According to the Gateway Pundit, each of these incidents has been corroborated either by left-leaning media outlets or by government admissions in court filings. A detailed report titled 20 CONFIRMED INCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS: The DOZENS of Feds, FBI Agents and State Operatives Who Infiltrated the Trump Crowds on January 6th at the US Capitol and Led the Protests lays out these claims, suggesting a level of government orchestration that many Americans would find deeply troubling.
Despite these disclosures, there is still no definitive public tally of how many federal, state, and local operatives were working undercover on January 6. The Gateway Pundit estimates that the number may approach 100 operatives who were leading the charge on the US Capitol, a scenario that, if fully substantiated, would dramatically reshape the understanding of that days events.
Recent court documents have already forced the Biden Department of Justice to concede that at least 40 undercover operatives were embedded with the Proud Boys on January 6. In September 2022, it also emerged that the FBI had been running operatives inside the Oath Keepers, a fact the DOJ disclosed to defendants only shortly before trial in what critics have called a Kangaroo Court proceeding in Washington, D.C.
In a pretrial letter, the government finally admitted it was using Confidential Human Sources (CHS) inside the Oath Keepers organization on January 6. Then, in November 2022, the FBI acknowledged that it had eight informants inside the Proud Boys, with indications that the true number was higher.
The DOJ has since admitted that 40 government CHS agents were operating undercover on January 6, a figure Proud Boys defendant Dominic Pezzola has publicly highlighted. According to the Gateway Pundit, that number has continued to climb, with estimates now reaching 50 or more operatives that the government is willing to acknowledge.
As more footage, documents, and testimony come to light, Wrays insistence that he does not believe undercover agents were present on January 6 appears increasingly untenable. The growing body of evidence suggests not only that federal operatives were on the ground in significant numbers, but that the American public has not been given a full or honest account of their role, leaving open serious questions about accountability at the highest levels of the FBI and the broader security apparatus.
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