FBI waited more than year to probe sources over Jan. 6 pipe bomb incident

The FBI waited more than a year to request field offices to canvas informants for information on the pipe bombs placed near the Republican and Democratic party headquarters prior to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a whistleblower told the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI's Washington Field Office sent an email to other field offices across the nation on Feb. 7, 2022, requesting them to canvass confidential human sources for information on the pipe bomb incident and stating that the suspect's "motive and ideology remain unknown," according to a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The whistleblower, described as a "senior FBI special agent" told the lawmakers that the request was "'unusual' because it was transmitted more than a year after the FBI had begun the investigation, and it raises questions about the progress and extent of the FBI’s investigation."

Jordan, ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, noted that the FBI has "FBI has failed to

sufficiently answer questions posed by Rep. Bill Posey [R-Fla.] about the status of the investigation." 

The FBI has yet to respond to Posey's request and said that it was instead exclusively giving information to the

Democrat-led House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, according to the letter.

"The FBI’s decision to provide information on a partisan basis is antithetical to the FBI’s purported impartiality and it further erodes public confidence in the FBI’s senior leadership," Jordan wrote.

The Ohio Republican reminded Wray that whistleblower disclosures are legally protected.

"[W]e will not tolerate any effort to retaliate against whistleblowers for their disclosures," Jordan wrote. He said Congress wants a briefing on the status and extent of the pipe bomb investigation as soon as possible.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., last month sent a letter to the Secret Service asking why agents missed the pipe bomb outside of the Democratic National Committee during their sweep of the building on Jan. 6 before then-Vice President Elect Kamala Harris arrived there that day.