Watchdog finds FBI intelligence missteps before Jan. 6 riot, but no undercover agents were present

The FBI should have done more to gather intelligence before the Capitol riot, according to a watchdog report Thursday that also said no undercover FBI employees were on the scene Jan. 6, 2021, and none of the bureau’s informants was authorized to participate.

The report from the Justice Department inspector general’s office knocks down a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events that day, when rioters determined to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the building in a violent clash with police.