FBI Followed Select Committee Leads In January 6 Investigation

A significant number of influential agents were persuasive enough to prevent the FBI from raising the level of the investigation into the former president's involvement in the events of January 6th. They successfully argued for almost a year that evidence linking Trump to either the riot or the Electoral College challenges was insufficient.

In the weeks following January 6th, FBI Director Christopher Wray and his staff closed down the suggestion that Trump should be investigated. They decided to start with the rioters and within a year almost 1000 convictions were secured, including counts of seditious conspiracy.

The resistance maintained by Trump supporters within the FBI to raising the level of the investigation shows that the Bureau is not very monolithic in opposition to the former president as described in social media.  A debate of professional opinions was certainly heated at times, and prosecutorial discretion was clearly forcing a tentative approach to investigating further.

"A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate Trump's actions, all contributed to the slow pace."

The debate among FBI agents came to a conclusion in late 2022. In October, Representatives on the Select Committee revealed that they had data and testimony the FBI hadn’t discovered. In an interview with NPR, the reporter who broke the story was asked what prompted the FBI to “pivot into action”. Aaron Davis replied, ”you can't deny that there was a lot of pressure put on DOJ by the House Select Committee and what they were turning up,” 

The advanced results found through the House Select Committee convinced the FBI leadership that the evidence had grown in nature and certainty. This realization settled the argument of widening the investigation. Jack Smith was appointed less than a month after the Committee published its final report. 

Every agent has personal political views in differing degrees of intensity. Career law enforcement officers might discuss issues in good faith and still disagree amongst themselves. The shift in the approach to handling events of January 6th have progressed from the prosecution of rioters to a more thorough explanation of why the riot occurred and what motivated it.