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January 6 Could Be Washington's Part of FBI’s Multi-State Operation Cold Snap, Argues US Observer

© AFP 2023 / MANDEL NGANThe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seal is seen on the lectern following a press conference announcing the FBI's 499th and 500th additions to the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on June 17, 2013 at the Newseum in Washington, DC.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seal is seen on the lectern following a press conference announcing the FBI's 499th and 500th additions to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on June 17, 2013 at the Newseum in Washington, DC.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.10.2021
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FBI’s involvement in 6 January riots could be bigger than the mainstream media have recently acknowledged, according to US political commentator Julie Kelly. She wonders whether the DC incident was part of the agency's Operation Cold Snap against Whitmer kidnapping case plotters, unveiled by BuzzFeed in July 2021.
The US Department of Justice announced on 8 October 2020 that six men had been arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The DoJ's press release said that "through confidential sources, undercover agents, and clandestine recordings, law enforcement learned particular individuals were planning to kidnap the Governor and acting in furtherance of that plan".
However, on 12 July 2021, BuzzFeed revealed that the FBI allegedly used at least 12 informants in the Whitmer kidnapping case, who not only kept the agency in the loop, but were allegedly used by the FBI to "induce or persuade" the defendants to go along with the violent scheme. The agency's operation was called Cold Snap.
According to BuzzFeed, the FBI assets "had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception".
One of those infiltrators, Stephen Robeson, 57, helped organise a series of meetings around the country "enthusiastically pushing people he knew to attend" and even "paid for some hotel rooms and food as an incentive to get people to come". At these meetings many of the alleged plotters first met one another.
Another informant, an Iraq War veteran, known as “Big Dan”, rose to the second-in-command of the group, encouraged members to work with other potential suspects and paid for their transportation to meetings. He allegedly urged the supposed mastermind of the Whitmer kidnapping plot to carry his plan out, and then laid the trap that eventually led to the arrest.
The defendants in the kidnapping case later accused the FBI of "entrapment", saying the infiltrators encouraged the group and even led military-style trainings for the plot.

All these meetings and training were captured on film by FBI agents "to produce major headlines as early voting was underway in the crucial swing state of Michigan", argued Julie Kelly in her op-ed for American Greatness (AG).

She noted that the blame for the plot was pinned on then-President Donald Trump. "There is a through line from President Trump’s dog whistles and tolerance of hate, vengeance, and lawlessness to plots such as this one", then-presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed on 8 October 2020.
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"It also appears that the Whitmer operation was only part of the FBI’s overall plan to infiltrate and perhaps direct the conduct of unsuspecting 'militia' men in 2020", Kelly continued, stressing that the agency's operation was not limited to Michigan but was a "multi-state" probe.

Citing a testimony by one of the lead FBI special agents in the Whitmer case, the political commentator highlighted that there had been other FBI "domestic terrorism" investigations in Baltimore and Milwaukee and Cincinnati and Indiana involving other militia members.
According to Kelly, "Big Dan" was also ordered by the FBI to convince a man in Virginia to participate in a plan against Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. "Just like in the Whitmer plot, 'Big Dan' advised his target how to build an explosive device and urged him to attend a training camp in Wisconsin", she noted.
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The AG senior contributor insists that "it’s hard to imagine Operation Cold Snap ended with the arrest of Whitmer’s would-be abductors". According to her, the 6 January riot, attended by several groups of right-wing militia, could have been a continuation of the same FBI op, this time in Washington, DC.
She suggested that it was hardly a coincidence that FBI chief Christopher Wray promoted Steven M. D’Antuono, special agent in charge of the Detroit Field Office, Michigan, to head of the DC FBI Field office on 13 October 2020 – just five days after the arrest of kidnap plotters and ahead of the November 2020 elections. Apparently, D’Antuono was seen as a man for the job, according to the political commentator.
Citing a New York Times' article unveiling FBI infiltrators' role in 6 January riots, Kelly presumed that the NYT report could only be seen as the start of a slow drip of information about the extent" of the agency's role in the Capitol breach.
"It’s only a matter of time before we learn how many “Big Dans” or Stephen Robesons were part of January 6," Kelly believes.
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