(Ken Silva, Headline USA) J6 provocateur Ray Epps has finally been charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest.
No, Epps wasn’t charged with inciting a riot for telling protestors to go “into the Capitol,” as he’s infamously caught on video saying. Nor was he charged for allegedly helping ram a sign into police officers, as journalist Stephen Horn’s footage shows.
Instead, Epps was charged with one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. His case has not yet been filed in the federal court docket.
Epps has been accused by some of being a government provocateur—a claim he has denied and filed a lawsuit over.
When he sued Fox News over its coverage of him in July, he disclosed that he expected to be charged for J6.
Epps claimed that the impending criminal charge will disprove the theory that he was a federal asset who encouraged Trump supporters to commit violence on Jan. 6.
“In May 2023, the Department of Justice notified Epps that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January 6, 2021—two-and-a-half years later. The relentless attacks by Fox and [Tucker] Carlson and the resulting political pressure likely resulted in the criminal charges,” Epps said in the lawsuit.
“Although it is difficult to believe that the Department of Justice would have pursued this matter if Fox had not focused its likes on Epps, ultimately the criminal charges conclusively demonstrate the falsehood of the story that Mr. Carlson and Fox told about Epps.”
Epps didn’t specify what aspect of the Fox/Carlson story would be disproven if he’s charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing on Capitol grounds. Other FBI informants, such as Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys, were charged in relation to J6, and it’s a common tactic for law enforcement to criminally charge informants to bolster their cover stories.
Epps is the controversial figure seen on camera on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, urging protestors to enter the Capitol. He initially appeared on the FBI’s wanted list in relation to the Capitol rioting, only to be removed in the summer of 2021 with no explanation.
More damning information about Epps has come out since then, including a text message he sent to his nephew saying, “I was in front with a few others. I also orchestrated it”—referring to the initial breach of the Capitol grounds.
Epps also reportedly admitted to the FBI that he trespassed on Capitol grounds, and made a bizarre comment about expecting a bombing to happen that day.
But despite this, liberal institutions such as 60 Minutes, the New York Times and the Jan. 6 Commission have come to Epps’s defense—raising more questions among those who suspect he may be a federal asset.
“Ray Epps is the only person I’ve seen on video January 5th and January 6th urging and directing people to go into the Capitol,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said after 60 Minutesaired an interview with Epps. “In a text message on January 6th he bragged that he orchestrated it. Why do democrats and the media portray him as the victim? So bizarre.”
In his lawsuit, Epps claimed that the conspiracy theories about him have destroyed his life.
However, Epps has yet to announce a lawsuit against Revolver News, the publication that broke the first stories about him.
Epps has also yet to answer questions from Headline USA about an warrant that was issued for his arrest in Pennsylvania in 2016.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
