FBI Determines Jan. 6 Capitol Breach Was Spontaneous Incident, Not Planned or Coordinated

After a thorough investigation, the FBI has determined that the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump was not a coordinated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but rather a spontaneous event.

According to a former senior law enforcement official quoted by Reuters, the majority of the over 570 alleged riot participants arrested were acting on their own, with only a small percentage having ties to organized militia groups. The official stated, "Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases. Then you have five percent maybe of these militia groups that were more closely organized.

But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages." While conservative political consultant Roger Stone and InfoWars founder Alex Jones, who have connections to Trump, were in Washington D.C.the day before the Capitol attack participating in pro-Trump events, they were not involved in planning or carrying out the violent events that took place on January 6. Although far-right organizations such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were found to have planned to breach the Capitol Building that day, the FBI concluded that these groups did not have plans for further action once inside. Despite this, 40 defendants associated with these groups have been charged with premeditating their attacks, while prosecutors have refrained from issuing more serious charges.

The January 6 attack marked the first violent breach of the Capitol Building since the War of 1812, when the British stormed the building. Following a speech by Trump claiming election fraud, his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election.