FBI Director Kash Patel shocked observers over the weekend when he issued a correction to a false statement made by Donald Trump.
It all started when President Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to make a claim about the FBI.
"It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax," Trump wrote. "This is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again! That’s right, as it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as 'Law Enforcement Officials.' I want to know who each and every one of these so-called 'Agents' are, and what they were up to on that now 'Historic' Day."
That led to Patel placing a story with Fox News in which the FBI leader contradicts the part about agents and insurrectionists.
The popular OSINTdefender account explained what happened:
"FBI Director Kash Patel has issued a correction to a post earlier today on Truth Social from President Donald J. Trump, in which he claimed that FBI Agents were in the crowd prior to, and during the January 6th Capitol Riot in 2021, claiming that they acted as agitators and insurrections, and not as 'Law Enforcement Officials,' with the president calling for the agents to be exposed for their role on January 6," the account wrote. "Patel has now said in a statement to Fox News that President Trump is incorrect, stating that 274 FBI Agents were not in the crowd prior to the start of the riot, and only entered to carry out crowd control once the violence began and demonstrators attempted to force their way into the Capitol Building."
CNN political reporter Aaron Blake also noticed the correction this weekend, writing, "Trump earlier today spread false info about Jan. 6. He said new info shows 'the FBI had secretly placed … 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax.' Now his own FBI director is making clear that’s not true."
Blake then quotes Patel as saying, "Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared."
CNN analyst Brian Stelter chimed in, too. He wrote, "Patel has placed a story with Fox News to correct Trump's outlandish Truth Social post claiming the FBI 'secretly' had '274 FBI agents' in the crowd 'prior to, and during,' the January 6 attack."
"Patel says that's false (without directly saying Trump is wrong)," Stelter wrote.