FBI Director Christopher Wray flatly rejected Wednesday suggestions that the bureau played any role in the mass unrest that upended the US Capitol two-a-half years ago.
"This notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking, dedicated men and women," Wray said during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
The director maintained the FBI did not have any advance knowledge of the assault that saw hundreds of former President Donald Trump's supporters storm the federal legislature as lawmakers prepared to take a constitutionally-mandated step ahead of President Joe Biden's inauguration.
The violence marked the first time the Capitol had been occupied since the British burned it and much of the capital city to the ground during the War of 1812.
Onetime Fox News television host Tucker Carlson has alleged that FBI agents were behind the Jan. 6, 2021 assault, a "false flag" theory echoed by some Republican lawmakers.
Carlton, who remains widely popular among the American right wing even after he was fired from Fox, has promoted the conspiracy theory that FBI agents incited Trump's supporters to attack the Capitol, calling the supposed actions "entrapment." No hard evidence has been put forward to substantiate the claim.
