(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A defense attorney in the ongoing Proud Boys sedition trial said in a Wednesday filing that the number of identified undercover agents, informants and police officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest crowd is now at least 40.
Attorney Roger Roots, who is representing Jan. 6 defendant Dominic Pezzola, said DOJ prosecutors recently informed the defense team that there were “additional” undercover DC Metropolitan Police Department officers than what was previously disclosed.
“At least two law enforcement agencies each outnumbered the FBI in terms of running undercover agents, informants, and [informants] on Jan. 6. First, the DC Metro Police had at least 13 undercover plain-clothes agents among the Proud Boys and other patriots on Jan. 6. Next, there appear to have been some 19 [informants] on Jan. 6 belonging to an agency called HIS (Homeland Security Investigations),” Roots said.
“When added to the eight FBI [informants] 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.”
Roots credited Jan. 6 defendant William Pope, who is standing trial in a separate case, for exposing additional undercovers in the crowd. In response to court filings made by Pope, prosecutors admitted last month that some of the Jan. 6 footage under seal includes body camera recordings from undercover police officers who were urging protestors inside the Capitol building.
The day after this admission, prosecutors in the Proud Boys trial also admitted to there being more undercover feds and officers in the Jan. 6 crowd, according to Roots.
“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,” Roots said. “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.”
Roots is seeking a court order compelling the government to provide the names, identities, and reports of all HSI confidential informants operating at or near the Capitol or around the Proud Boys on January 6, 2021. The DOJ has yet to respond to the attorney’s motion.
Pezzola is one of the defendants in the ongoing Proud Boys sedition conspiracy trial, along with Zachary Rehl, Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs.
The trial is ongoing.
On Thursday, the judge presiding over the case reportedly ordered a closed hearing to investigate allegations by a juror that he was being followed by someone. This matter was not resolved before the publication of this article.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
