WASHINGTON: The top US spy’s chief of staff on Wednesday said the US intelligence community is investigating whether the FBI was involved in planning the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
“We’re looking into it right now,” Joseph Kent, chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said during a Senate intelligence committee hearing on his nomination to head the US National Counterterrorism Center.
He did not elaborate on which of the 18 US intelligence agencies is conducting the probe. Gabbard oversees the FBI’s intelligence functions.
A US Justice Department watchdog report released in December debunked claims by far-right conspiracy theorists who falsely alleged that FBI operatives were secretly involved in the Capitol attack.
The report found there were 26 FBI informants in Washington on the day of the attack. But, it said, the FBI did not authorize any to enter the Capitol or engage in violence.
Kent’s comments came in response to questions from Democratic Senator Mark Kelly about the attack by Trump supporters trying to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
Trump falsely claimed he lost the contest due to widespread voting fraud. In January, he pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in the assault by a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to overturn his election defeat.
Kelly asked Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA officer and staunch Trump loyalist, what evidence he had to back up a post on what is now the social media platform X that the FBI and US spy agencies were involved in planning the assault on Congress.
“We’ve already identified that there were multiple confidential human informants run by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that were present in the crowd that day, directing, removing barriers, those types of things,” Kelly said. “That has been investigated widely. We continue to look into that intelligence.”
He alleged that the FBI and law enforcement elements that he did not identify “attempted to suppress the fact” that informants were among the thousands of rioters.
Information that forewarned of violence indicated that there had been “some degree of intelligence infiltration” of groups who stormed the Capitol, he said.
Kent said that it “probably” was the bureau’s Washington Field Office that was involved and that it was “being looked into” by the intelligence community.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office referred to her announcement on Tuesday that a new task force she has formed is “executing” Trump’s executive orders to rebuild trust in the intelligence community “starting with investigating weaponization, rooting out deep-seeded politicization, exposing unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence, and declassifying information that serves a public interest.”
Gabbard campaigned for Kent during his failed 2022 run to represent Washington state’s 3rd congressional district.
He was quoted by local media as questioning the validity of Biden’s victory and called the Capitol attack an “intelligence operation,” and rioters charged in the assault “political prisoners.”
Several Democratic senators questioned Kent about his participation in a group chat on the Signal messaging app in which top Trump national security officials discussed plans for March 15 airstrikes against Houthi militants in Yemen.
Kent said that material posted in the chat was unclassified, but he declined to answer questions, saying the matter is the subject of litigation.
The Pentagon’s Inspector General’s office announced earlier this month that it was opening a probe into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to coordinate the strikes.
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US intel investigating whether FBI was involved in 2020 Capitol riot
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US intel investigating whether FBI was involved in 2020 Capitol riot
- Trump's aide Gabbard forms task force to investigate intelligence community weaponization
- Justice Department report debunks FBI involvement in Capitol attack
Post-uprising polls won’t shake Nepal’s delicate India-China balance
NEW DELHI: Nepal votes next week for the first time since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government, but analysts say any winner will likely maintain the delicate diplomatic balance between its two giant neighbors, India and China.
The landlocked Himalayan nation of 30 million people will elect a new government on March 5, six months after youth-led demonstrations brought down the administration of Marxist leader KP Sharma Oli.
Who will win is an open question, but Nepali journalist Sudheer Sharma said it will likely be “very difficult” for any single party to secure a majority, meaning longstanding political dynamics may continue.
“Nepal’s relation with India or China depends on what type of coalition it will be and who will be the dominant power,” said Sharma.
“The fundamentals of the relationship will not change, but some approaches might.”
Younger candidates are campaigning on promises to overhaul a stagnant economy and remove an aging political elite, while veteran politicians emphasize stability and security if returned to power.
Key investors and trading partners Beijing and New Delhi are watching closely, but analysts suggested that the new government will likely continue Katmandu’s pragmatic balancing act between the two powers, who compete for influence.
Nepal’s largest trading partner is India, accounting for 63 percent of imports, or $8.6 billion, followed by China at 13 percent, or $1.8 billion, according to World Bank figures.
‘Regular relationship’
India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal as a traditional ally, with open borders along the plains.
“Some issues are there, some problems are there, but the regular relationship should be stable,” journalist Sharma said.
Retired Indian diplomat Rakesh Sood described New Delhi’s ties with Nepal as “extensive,” encompassing trade, tourism and hydropower.
Nepal is integrated with cross-border infrastructure in both directions: power lines from hydropower dams feed electricity to India, while China connects through its Belt and Road Initiative over the Himalayas via Tibet, and makes investments in airports and railways.
For nearly two decades, Nepal’s political landscape was dominated by veteran leaders — many of them former Maoist insurgents — who took turns in power since the end of a 10-year civil war in 2006.
Last September’s unrest erupted as youth protests against a brief social media ban, but was fueled by far wider anger at economic stagnation and corruption.
Over two days, 77 people were killed, scores were injured, and hundreds of buildings were set on fire.
Oli, 74, forced out by the uprising, is seeking a return to power for a potential fifth term as prime minister.
He had a fractious relationship with New Delhi — after taking office in 2024, he chose China for his first trip abroad, rather than the customary visit to India.
“In Nepal, the then leftist-led government had an uncomfortable relationship with India — and that was overthrown,” Sharma added.
‘Balance ties’
A new cohort of first-time candidates has emerged from the loosely organized Gen Z movement that helped drive the protests, young Nepalis seeking economic reform.
“Nepal’s leadership, even if at times seemingly inclined to lean toward one power or the other, aims to balance ties with India and China,” South Asia expert Michael Kugelman told AFP.
“It’s hard to imagine that changing, even if there is a new influx of younger people in politics.”
He suggested the status quo will likely remain, with China “comfortable with any type of political dynamic” in Katmandu, including one with a younger profile, as long as it remains open to Beijing.
“A government with youth leaders would likely not take positions on relations with India and China that diverge much with the previous government,” Kugelman said, suggesting that Nepali youth are “generally not hostile to China — even if some would prefer less Chinese influence.”
Both India and China have pumped in hundreds of millions of dollars in investments into Nepal, and both are backing voting preparations, with New Delhi sending vehicles to aid the Election Commission.
Kugelman said change may come if a new generation of politicians sweeps into power on an anti-corruption ticket and shakes up old practices of opaque funding for mega-projects.
“Young people in Nepal won’t support Chinese or Indian actions that aim to shape Nepal’s politics or put vast amounts of money in the hands of the government in ways that aren’t transparent,” he said.
ash/pjm/mjw
The landlocked Himalayan nation of 30 million people will elect a new government on March 5, six months after youth-led demonstrations brought down the administration of Marxist leader KP Sharma Oli.
Who will win is an open question, but Nepali journalist Sudheer Sharma said it will likely be “very difficult” for any single party to secure a majority, meaning longstanding political dynamics may continue.
“Nepal’s relation with India or China depends on what type of coalition it will be and who will be the dominant power,” said Sharma.
“The fundamentals of the relationship will not change, but some approaches might.”
Younger candidates are campaigning on promises to overhaul a stagnant economy and remove an aging political elite, while veteran politicians emphasize stability and security if returned to power.
Key investors and trading partners Beijing and New Delhi are watching closely, but analysts suggested that the new government will likely continue Katmandu’s pragmatic balancing act between the two powers, who compete for influence.
Nepal’s largest trading partner is India, accounting for 63 percent of imports, or $8.6 billion, followed by China at 13 percent, or $1.8 billion, according to World Bank figures.
‘Regular relationship’
India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal as a traditional ally, with open borders along the plains.
“Some issues are there, some problems are there, but the regular relationship should be stable,” journalist Sharma said.
Retired Indian diplomat Rakesh Sood described New Delhi’s ties with Nepal as “extensive,” encompassing trade, tourism and hydropower.
Nepal is integrated with cross-border infrastructure in both directions: power lines from hydropower dams feed electricity to India, while China connects through its Belt and Road Initiative over the Himalayas via Tibet, and makes investments in airports and railways.
For nearly two decades, Nepal’s political landscape was dominated by veteran leaders — many of them former Maoist insurgents — who took turns in power since the end of a 10-year civil war in 2006.
Last September’s unrest erupted as youth protests against a brief social media ban, but was fueled by far wider anger at economic stagnation and corruption.
Over two days, 77 people were killed, scores were injured, and hundreds of buildings were set on fire.
Oli, 74, forced out by the uprising, is seeking a return to power for a potential fifth term as prime minister.
He had a fractious relationship with New Delhi — after taking office in 2024, he chose China for his first trip abroad, rather than the customary visit to India.
“In Nepal, the then leftist-led government had an uncomfortable relationship with India — and that was overthrown,” Sharma added.
‘Balance ties’
A new cohort of first-time candidates has emerged from the loosely organized Gen Z movement that helped drive the protests, young Nepalis seeking economic reform.
“Nepal’s leadership, even if at times seemingly inclined to lean toward one power or the other, aims to balance ties with India and China,” South Asia expert Michael Kugelman told AFP.
“It’s hard to imagine that changing, even if there is a new influx of younger people in politics.”
He suggested the status quo will likely remain, with China “comfortable with any type of political dynamic” in Katmandu, including one with a younger profile, as long as it remains open to Beijing.
“A government with youth leaders would likely not take positions on relations with India and China that diverge much with the previous government,” Kugelman said, suggesting that Nepali youth are “generally not hostile to China — even if some would prefer less Chinese influence.”
Both India and China have pumped in hundreds of millions of dollars in investments into Nepal, and both are backing voting preparations, with New Delhi sending vehicles to aid the Election Commission.
Kugelman said change may come if a new generation of politicians sweeps into power on an anti-corruption ticket and shakes up old practices of opaque funding for mega-projects.
“Young people in Nepal won’t support Chinese or Indian actions that aim to shape Nepal’s politics or put vast amounts of money in the hands of the government in ways that aren’t transparent,” he said.
ash/pjm/mjw
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