The FBI could be compelled to identify all special agents who were present on U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, if a federal judge grants a motion from Jan. 6 defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas.
The agents stood together and one enthusiastically clapped and cheered as protesters took to the east steps, according to the motion.
“From the clapping and celebratory expression we can conclude that these FBI agents were in favor of people accessing the building and that they believed the people had a First Amendment right to be there,” Mr. Pope alleged.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 20 asked Judge Contreras for extra time to respond to Mr. Pope’s motion, a request the judge quickly granted over Mr. Pope’s objections. The DOJ now has until March 14 to respond.
“We have only five months until trial is scheduled to begin and there is still a lot that needs to be resolved before then,” Mr. Pope wrote. “Furthermore, the government currently has three attorneys assigned to my case ... while I am only a single pro se defendant, so I don’t understand why you need a full month to properly respond.”
In his motion to compel, Mr. Pope cited the public statements of former FBI special agent John Guandolo as proof that there were unidentified FBI agents in the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021.
“In fact, the government has failed to notify me that these FBI agents were even in the crowd, that they made exculpatory observations, and that they collected photographic and video evidence relevant and favorable to my defense,” Mr. Pope wrote.
“For these reasons, I have no choice but to motion this honorable court to compel the government to identify all FBI agents who were material witnesses at the Capitol, and to produce all photographs, videos, and records related to their presence.”
“I personally witnessed individuals walk up the stairs to the Capitol, have conversations with the two or three police officers that were stationed midway up, I watched the Capitol Police point up the stairs, and they calmly ... went up and went in those doors,” he testified. “Capitol Police watched them, and the police at the top of the stairs didn’t stop them.”
Mr. Pope cited a 2022 interview Mr. Guandolo did with Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren.
“I spent a good portion of the day with a friend of mine who is still active in the FBI, and we met another friend of ours in the FBI—I spent a lot of the time with them—and as we were standing next to each other watching, we literally, like guys would walk by us, we’re like, ‘There’s Antifa, there’s Antifa, there’s Antifa,’” Mr. Guandolo said in the interview.
Mr. Pope said the statements by Mr. Guandolo and his FBI colleagues that Jan. 6 was not like the media portrayed it are exculpatory evidence for his defense against criminal charges brought by the DOJ.
“Of the several FBI guys I was talking to that day, the two that I knew and then several guys I got introduced [to] ... there was a pretty good agreement, like whatever was going on here, there was much more to it, but it’s being portrayed as something its absolutely not,” Mr. Guandolo said, according to the motion.
“Guandolo’s assertion that he and active-duty FBI agents were seemingly in agreement that they perceived Capitol Police didn’t care if people entered the East Plaza or the Capitol itself, is highly relevant and exculpatory to my own case,” Mr. Pope wrote, “since these agents directly witnessed these incidents and can testify favorably on my behalf.”
Mr. Pope, 38, publisher of the news website Free State Kansas, says he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, covering the protest and subsequent violence.
Federal prosecutors charged him with civil disorder, corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, impeding ingress or egress in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He faces a July 22 trial.
“The government has a clear obligation to identify these material witnesses whose testimony will be favorable to my defense,” Mr. Pope wrote.
Mr. Guandolo and his FBI friends did not seem to find the protesters’ presence on the East Plaza a problem, the motion stated.
“CCTV shows that Guandolo and his FBI colleagues were elated that people were in this area,” Mr. Pope wrote. “This is evidenced by their joyful facial expressions and body language, loud clapping, and celebratory outburst (“Oh! Oh! Oh man! This is huge!!!”) as people were running up the steps to the Capitol.”
In January 2024, Guandolo told Real America’s Voice that he and the FBI agents he was with have been formally interviewed by the FBI about why they were at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mr. Guandolo has said he went there on personal time to pray.
“Since these agents believe themselves to be in alignment with FBI policy and the Constitution, yet CCTV shows them in the area that the government alleges to be restricted, their testimony will be favorable to my defense against the government’s accusations that I was [in] a restricted area,” Mr. Pope said.
“For this reason, the Court should compel the government to identify all FBI agents who directly witnessed events at the Capitol since the exculpatory testimony of many, many agents will lend strength in numbers to my defense.”
He also revealed another group of MPD Electronic Surveillance Unit officers arresting a trio whose members identified themselves as supporters of Antifa.
