In a humorous moment, and there were very few of them, during the seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the Proud Boys earlier this year, a defense attorney mocked the number of confidential human sources in the FBI, commonly known as informants, embedded in the group before January. 6. “I am not and have never been CHS,” Carmen Hernández, public defender representing one of the men, he said Judge Timothy Kelly on March 26 after the government disclosed the existence of another FBI informant.
In fact, the Justice Department stipulated—that is, admitted—at least eight FBI informants were involved with the Proud Boys in the months leading up to January 6. Defense attorneys, however, identified even more; at one point, a government witness confessed that more than a dozen informants participated in group chats and engaged in heated arguments that they later used as evidence at trial. An FBI informant was a driver for Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys; another continued to engage with defendants after their arrests.
While prosecutors successfully concealed the identities of most of the FBI informants planted on the Proud Boys, newly obtained surveillance video shows the movement of a Proud Boy informant on January 6.
Michael Alan Jones is a convicted felon with a history of firearms, drug and statutory rape charges. But instead of spending years in prison — more on that in a future piece — in 2019, Jones suddenly became interested in so-called “white supremacist” and “neo-Nazi” groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Front.
And according to a recent article on Raw Story, an online publication that tracks the activity of these groups, Jones was an FBI informant. “Raw Story has independently confirmed that Jones has worked in the past as a paid informant for the FBI,” reporter Jordan Greene. disclosed last month. “Lira Gallagher, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington field office, declined to comment.”
Jones, now 25, took part in several Proud Boys rallies before the January 6 events. For example, in November 2020, Jones joined the Proud Boys for a “Stop the Steal” protest which “served as a regional feeder event for a December 12, 2020 protest against the election result that would be seen as a dress rehearsal for the January 6 uprising,” Raw Story. reported last month.
On the morning of January 6, Jones united dozens of Proud Boys, including Joseph Biggs and Ethan Nordean, as they marched to the Capitol around noon.
Jones, wearing a dark hoodie and khaki cargo shorts, was present at the first breach of the exterior barriers just before 1pm. (Not-yet-charged provocateur Ray Epps is also seen with the group.) The open-source video shows Jones heading to the Lower West Terrace as skirmishes between protesters and police began.
At one point, Jones is close to Dominic Pezzola, another Proud Boy who later breaks a window allowing the building’s first interior breach. Clashes escalated between protesters and law enforcement; Jones finds himself in the middle of numerous confrontations, pushing away metal racks and taunting the police.
During a confrontation, Jones appeared to punch an officer. (Behind Jones as he assaulted the officer is Ryan Samsel, a Pennsylvania man who has been in jail awaiting trial on multiple charges since January 2021.)
Even a tear gas or two didn’t deter Jones, who remained in what has been designated a restricted area for more than an hour.
At 2:42 p.m., Jones scaled a railing at the Senate House door and entered the Capitol where he was met by dozens of protesters.
https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/status/1635344276950499329?s=20
He entered an empty office; after Jones leaves the office, a man briefly removes his face mask to whisper something to Jones, who is later seen carrying a case of bottled water outside.
About a minute later, Jones re-entered the building and helped several protesters open the door to another office. Carrying what appeared to be the leg of a chair or desk, Jones left the building at 2:45 p.m. and returned twice more:
Jones later published an Instagram post admitting the feds were involved on Jan. 6. “There may have been a handful of officers in the crowd, but they lost control of the crowd and things got worse than they expected. They planned to let one or two doors in and make it look like the end of the world. But the doors were smashed and people messed around in the offices and threw paperwork for fun.”
Recall that one of the reasons the FBI did not turn over the surveillance video to the Boston FBI field office, according to a whistleblower, was fear that confidential human sources would be identified in the footage .
Despite behavior that has landed other Jan. 6 protesters in jail — “parading” the Capitol, assaulting or interfering with law enforcement, obstruction of an official proceeding, to name a few — Jones remains uncharged . He was arrested for violating curfew on January 6 and released. (He now faces new charges unrelated to Jan. 6.)
Moreover, Jones’ conduct on January 6 was far more violent than that of any of the five Proud Boys later charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes. (All were denied bail.) Four of the five were convicted of seditious conspiracy in April and face decades in prison.
The fact that Jones is not yet facing federal charges for his role on January 6 appears to confirm Raw Story’s report that he was acting as a federal asset that day.
And it’s not like the FBI won’t find Jones to indict him by January 6; has been hiding in plain sight. Jones is now linked to the Patriot Front, a group that some in the media and on the right suspect of another FBI sting operation. “During the time Jones was active with the Proud Boys, from 2020 to 2022, he was also involved with Patriot Front, demonstrating the porous relationship between the Proud Boys, a group that accepts men of color while claiming to be non-racist, and neo-Nazis and other overt white supremacist groups,” Raw Story reported.
More to come.
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