Fedformants and undercover police officers were on the ground interfering with the peaceful protest at the US Capitol in Washington DC, of the very suspicious 2020 election, according to one attorney for one of the January 6th peaceful protestors, who was arrested that day.
The allegation was made Wednesday in a court filing by Roger Roots, the attorney for Dominic Pezzola, a member of the men’s drinking club-America First activists, the Proud Boys.
Pezzola is standing trial in a federal court in Washington, D.C., with the group’s former national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl on charges including allegedly conspiring to oppose the transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election, according to the Daily Caller news outlet, Just the News reported, adding more details:
Roots state in his court filing that the federal government has admitted that eight FBI confidential human sources were among the Proud Boys at the riot.
Just the News went on in more detail:
He also states the Homeland Security Investigations agency appeared to have roughly 19 informants active at the time and that at least 13 undercover plain-clothes Metropolitan Police Department agents were amid the crowd of protesters.
“Some of these undercover Metro officers marched with the Proud Boy,” Roots said. “And some appear to have played roles of instigators, in that they are seen on body-worn videos chanting ‘Go! Go!,’ ‘Stop the Steal!,’ and ‘Whose house? Our house!’ on Jan. 6. Others generally followed demonstrators toward the Capitol,” the Daily Caller also reports.
According to the filing, that is exactly what it looks like:
“Pezzola, by and through undersigned counsel, with this motion to compel the United States to reveal all informants, undercover operatives, and other Confidential Human Sources (CHSs) relating to the events of January 6. Pezzola recently learned that a federal agency other than the FBI — the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) unit — was handling and running undercover CHSs on Jan. 6. The federal prosecutors, in this case, are refusing to disclose information regarding these non-FBI informants. The existence and likely conduct of these CHSs is almost certainly exculpatory for Pezzola.
The United States has torturously avoided disclosing the full scale of undercover CHSs among the Proud Boys on Jan. 6. Government FBI witnesses first admitted there was one CHS embedded among the Proud Boys on Jan. 6.
Then there were two; then there were three. Then the government stipulated on April 4 that there were 8 FBI CHSs among the Proud Boys. On Friday, March 31, federal prosecutors pulled defense counsel aside and disclosed there were additional undercover officers belonging to Metro PD among defendants on Jan. 6. Pezzola has become aware that the largest numbers of undercovers on Jan. 6 belonged to agencies other than FBI.
At least two law enforcement agencies each outnumbered the FBI in terms of running undercover agents, informants, and CHSs on Jan. 6. First; the DCMetro Police had at least 13 undercover plain-clothes agents among the ProudBoys and other patriots on Jan. 6. Next, there appear to have been some 19 CHSson Jan. 6 belonging to an agency called HIS (Homeland Security Investigations). When added to the 8 FBI CHSs now acknowledged by the prosecutors, this means that there were at least forty (40) undercover informants or agents doing surveillance among defendants on January 6.
On Thursday, March 31, Pezzola filed a motion to serve witness Ray Epps by publication. Defendants contend Mr. Epps is being suspiciously protected from prosecution by the government. Pezzola’s motion included a paragraph addressing revelations by J6 defendant William Pope in another J6 case that undercover Metro officers were among the crowd on Jan. 6, instigating the crowd to storm the Capitol.
The following day, Friday, March 31, federal prosecutors, in this case, pulled defense lawyers aside and revealed that the United States possessed previously undisclosed information regarding MPD officers working undercover on Jan. 6.
Specifically, there are previously undisclosed text messages between the undercover officers and Proud Boy supporters which evidence very close, familial and/or intimate contact and relationships.
The information involved twelve (now known to be 13) undercover or plain-clothes Metropolitan Police Officers among demonstrators on Jan. 6, 2021. Some of these undercover Metro officers marched with the Proud Boymarch.
And some appear to have played roles of instigators, in that they are seen on body-worn videos chanting “Go! Go!,” “Stop the Steal!,” and “Whose house? Our house!” on Jan. 6. Others generally followed demonstrators toward the capital. Pezzola submits that the entire defense in this trial, including opening, cross, and defense cases, would have been different and much more aggressive if defense counsel had known of the scope and scale of undercover government operations on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors made arguments contrary to information they possessed and withheld, and defense counsel could have lodged different cross-examination and direct examination questions if they had known of these materials. For example, this newly disclosed information supports Proud Boy’s assessment of Antifa prior to Jan. 6. Undercover metro officers are seen on videos and private texts remarking on the dangerousness and violence of Antifa. (Prior to these revelations, prosecutors had painted Proud Boy statements regarding Antifa as exaggerated or even illusionary. Indeed, prosecution witnesses had said antifa inDC was largely illusionary.
Prosecutors repeatedly suggested through their witnesses that defendants’ chats, texts, and posts about antifa were not defensive in nature; but were secret Proud Boy code for intending violence against Congress, the Capitol, or federal officers. The government has withheld this exculpatory information.
With each bombshell, the government generally begins its responses to late disclosure complaints by saying the government was provided with the information; even if buried in mountains of unnavigable discovery debris.
But in this situation, prior discovery dumps did not provide all the information. Buried in this discovery was a chart naming twelve Metro officers working for the unit on Jan. 6. But an additional, thirteenth undercover Metro officer was revealed in the recent revelations.