Hear the Democrats tell it, and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were a planned "insurrection" by far-right groups -- and at the tip of the spear were the Proud Boys.

The organization, founded by Gavin McInnes, turned into something like a combination between a hard-right fraternity organization and a street gang which would frequently pick fights with far-left groups. Enrique Tarrio, one of five Proud Boys currently on trial for seditious conspiracy over the Capitol incursion, became chairman of the organization in 2018, according to Splinter News.

Here's what's curious: Tarrio claims that he was an FBI informant. And, among members of the Proud Boys who were involved in the events of Jan. 6, he was hardly alone.

According to a Friday report from CNN, while an FBI agent has testified that she only knew of two informants with the group during the incursion, evidence presented by prosecutors indicates that there were over a dozen FBI informants in the group on Jan. 6, 2021.

The five Proud Boys being charged with seditious conspiracy -- Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Joseph Biggs -- have all pleaded not guilty.

In CNN's Friday piece, they talked to a woman named Jen Loh who "has been in touch with several Proud Boys now on trial for seditious conspiracy, talking with the members of the far-right group and their defense counsel about the case and suggesting possible witnesses and attorneys who could help.

"All the while, Loh was also a paid FBI informant," CNN noted.

Loh, a former member of Latinos for Trump, told the network she had "mostly" communicated with the FBI about the group's antifa opponents and split ways with the bureau after it was determined her testimony at the trial would complicate matters.

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Her communications with the FBI began in 2018, and the government says she was an informant from April of 2020 to January of 2023. Loh claims she was paid only once by the bureau.

That payment was for security footage of her being harassed outside of her home by what she implied were "[a]ntifa types."

However, CNN noted that Loh had "participated in Proud Boys text chats and had extensive communications with one of the defendants in prison. She also suggested starting prayer groups with the defendants’ family members, according to defense counsel."

"The role of confidential human sources, or CHS, on Jan. 6 has become a central focus in right-wing circles, where conspiracy theorists assert that Jan. 6 was a trap to make supporters of the former president look bad," CNN reported.

Yes, those wacky conspiracy theorists -- who have taken note of the fact that there seem to have been an awful lot of FBI agents inside the group at the time, and yet the FBI had no inkling that there was a seditious conspiracy afoot on Jan. 6, 2021, which is what the government is alleging.

Again CNN: "It’s clear from the exhibits and testimony that prosecutors have shown during the trial that law enforcement had several people within the organization reporting back information. One exhibit in the case suggested that there were more than a dozen FBI informants in the Proud Boys around the time of Jan. 6."

It's unclear whether Tarrio, who says he had worked as an informant with the FBI, was one of them. During earlier testimony, FBI Agent Nicole Miller said she only knew of two informants with the group while the incursion was ongoing: One had gone to the Capitol and reported back to their handler, and the other was staying with Tarrio outside of the District of Columbia.

During the trial, however, defense attorneys have said the FBI is hiding the identities of other informants who can confirm there was no planned insurrection, or even the notion to storm the Capitol building in the wake of the "Stop the Steal" protest.

“Not a single CHS told the government that there was a plan for Jan. 6 that Proud Boys planned to storm the Capitol,” said Sabino Jauregui, Tarrio’s lawyer.

If this is true, we're left with a quandary: Either the FBI had thoroughly infiltrated the Proud Boys and were too incompetent to gather intelligence about an "insurrection," or the Proud Boys -- awful though they may be -- were simply among the many who marched to the Capitol after then-President Trump's speech to find it inadequately secured with law enforcement forces willing to get out of the way as if they were matadors faced with a bull.

Furthermore, how many of these Proud Boys were encouraged by other assumed compatriots who were actually government informants? The government isn't going to say -- and yet, when determining intent in matters of seditious conspiracy, this is of paramount importance.

It's hardly a "conspiracy theory" to call this problematic when the government itself suggests that it had over a dozen human assets within the group at the time of the incursion. We've already seen the footage from Jan. 6 that was hidden from America for so long -- and what everyone witnessed was stupid chaos, not a threat to the republic.

The question now is: How much of that chaos was spurred on by the government itself?

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.