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- The FBI has found no evidence Trump was directly involved in organizing violence of the Capitol riot.
- They also found little evidence of an organized plot to overturn the election results.
- "Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said one former official.
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The FBI has not found any evidence that the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was part of an organized plot to overturn the election results, according to a report from Reuters.
The report also said that the FBI has "so far found no evidence that [former President Donald Trump] or people directly around him were involved in organizing the violence."
"Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," a former law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told Reuters. "There was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."
More than 570 participants have been arrested by federal officials. Investigators have found that groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys did plan ahead of time to break into the Capitol, but did not engage in much planning beyond that step. Reuters reported that 40 of the defendants are being prosecuted on conspiracy charges, implying a certain amount of planning and coordination.
But prosecutors have generally shied away from alleging a broader plot. Senior Department of Justice officials do not intend to bring forward "seditious conspiracy" charges or even "racketerring" charges, commonly used against organized criminal gangs.
A Democratic congressional source told Reuters that senior lawmakers who have been briefed on the FBI's investigation find the results credible.
Though the FBI has not found an organized plot or direct involvement by Trump, that does not mean that Trump did not play an important role in instigating the violence. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives impeached the former President on the charge of "incitement of insurrection" after the former President spent weeks promoting conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 election. On January 6, Trump gave a speech on the Ellipse where he urged supporters to march on the Capitol.