Judge Blocks Effort to Expose Undercover Police and FBI at January 6 Rally

The effort to expose the role played by the FBI and Metropolitan Police undercover agents in the January 6 riot at the Capitol has been thwarted.

This week, Judge Rudolph Contreras blocked defendant William Pope from exposing their identities.

According to Contreras, the materials sought are “irrelevant and immaterial.”

Not Happening

There have been reports of instigators at the Capitol on January 6 that were actually law enforcement officers.

The narrative being pitched is that these undercover agents were encouraging people to riot.

Pope, one of the more than 1,000 defendants charged in the Capitol riot, reacted to the ruling by Judge Contreras.

He posted on X, “I now have the most restricted discovery access conditions of any Jan 6 defendant.

“All I’m asking for is a fair fight in court, but he’s denying me rights to defend myself Pro Se that aren’t denied to attorneys.

“Even though some January 6 attorneys have filed highly sensitive materials as public exhibits, or leaked them on social media, I have not released a single sensitive or highly sensitive file governed by the protective order.”

Pope is the publisher of Free Kansas State, but he has been charged with a number of offenses related to the events of that day.

His attorneys wanted to secure “all photographs, videos, and records related to their presence,” that being all the undercovers working for the FBI and police that day.

In his ruling denying the request, Contreras wrote, “The Court agrees with the government and finds that defendant has failed to show that the government has an obligation to produce the requested material.”

He added, “While Pope asserts that the missing camera footage is ‘highly relevant to January 6 cases, including [his] own,’ … he does not explain what he expects the footage to show or why that footage would assist in his defense.

“Much of the camera footage that Pope requests depicts areas where Pope never set foot. That footage is therefore not beneficial to Pope’s case.”

Undercovers are often used in these types of events to spot trouble, but they are surely not supposed to be encouraging nefarious behavior, so I believe if that element is present, Pope should have every right to see that material.

Obviously, Judge Contreras, who was initially appointed to the bench by Barack Obama, does not see it that way.