As chaos unfolded during the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the FBI was receiving live reports from the ground from a secret informant who was covertly sending updates to his agency handlers. According to a report published in The New York Times, as a mob of Trump supporters violently attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, FBI agents were texting with the informant embedded with the far-right Proud Boys. According to the Times, the agency knew in advance that multiple informants planned on attending the pro-Trump rally on Jan. 6, raising questions about the agency’s preparedness for the subsequent riot.

The Times pointed out that, while some right-wing pundits have pushed the conspiracy theory that national law enforcement agents staged the attack on the Capitol, the new revelations show that the FBI was actually late to understanding how serious the mob was about storming the Capitol.