FBI Followed Select Committee Leads In January 6 Investigation
Influential F.B.I. agents were persuasive enough to prevent a decision to raise 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 was insufficient to link Trump to either the riot or the Electoral College challenges.
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 obstruction of an official proceeding, trespassing, and 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, and prosecutorial discretion forced 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."[1]
The debate among FBI agents concluded 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,”[2]
[1] Carol D. Leonnig, Aaron C. Davis, FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year, Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/ June 20, 2023, acquired April 19, 2024
[2] Geoff Bennet, PBS News Hour, Report says DOJ resisted investigating Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for over a year, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/report-says-doj-resisted-investigating-trumps-role-in-jan-6-for-over-a-year, June 19, 2023, acquired April 19, 2024