Pardoned January 6 rioters have accused F.B.I. director Kash Patel of “stabbing them in the back”.
Patel and his deputy director, ex-Secret Service agent turned right-wing commentator Dan Bongino, have previously been critics of the F.B.I. and its decision to arrest those involved in the 2021 attack on the Capitol building.
But now it has emerged Patel tapped Steven J. Jensen — the man who spearheaded the nationwide investigation into the fatal riot — to be his Washington field office assistant director. Jensen, who was responsible for domestic terrorism operations at the time, has been promoted along with several others, as reported by the New York Times.
MAGA loyalists and several pardoned January 6 rioters have shared their anger at the F.B.I chief.
Richard Bigo Barnett, 63, a self-described “J6 Patriot”, and retired firefighter, called the appointment “A sad day for MAGA” on X Monday.
He continued to slam Patel and Bongino, writing: “It is hard to believe that Kash Patel stabbed J6’ers and constitutional American citizens in the back.
“This is exactly the opposite of turning the Hoover building into a museum and starting from scratch. This is sickening,” he added.
The Arkansas rioter became the notorious face of the riot after he was seen propping his feet on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk.
Barnett was handed a 54-month sentence after he was convicted of a series of charges including civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, as per NPR.
Another Patel critic, Derrick Evans, sentenced to three months in prison for his role in January 6, joined in on the attack.
The self-identified “former January 6th political prisoner” typed a rattled response on X Saturday: “Seriously Kash? Why the **** does this guy have a job, let alone a promotion?”
Three years after the attempted insurrection, Evans went on to lose a Republican primary for the House of Representatives in West Virginia in May last year.
Philip Anderson, who declares himself as a “January 6th survivor” on X warned that “none of us should listen to anything” Attorney General Pam Bondi, Patel, or Bongino say, until they “arrest one Democrat criminal.”
The 28-year-old from Mesquite, Texas, was arrested in August 2023, and charged with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, as per the Department of Justice.
Enrique Tarrio, 42, the former leader of the Proud Boys group “Western chauvinists”, was serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the January 6 insurrection. Despite not being physically present at the riots, prosecutors argued that he played a central role in orchestrating the events from outside Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, Tarrio claimed Patel had made a serious error in his appointment of Jensen but refused to demonise the FBI chief altogether.
“For the record I’m not “turning” on Kash or Bongino. I’m not anywhere close to that yet. But this issue with Jensen needs correcting. Jensen should be nowhere near a badge. He should be at best a Walmart greeter,” he wrote on X.
According to the internal email obtained by the New York Times, Patel’s new hires came as he pushed on with a plan to overhaul the agency’s command structure and split the bureau into three regions.
Five acting branch directors were reportedly tapped by Patel in recent weeks to ultimately run the F.B.I. including Jensen and the new head of “field services” Michael Glasheen, as per the New York Times.
