(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The new U.S. Attorney for DC, Edward Martin, has dropped the remaining outstanding cases against Jan. 6 defendants—including a possible federal provocateur, John Emanuel Banuelos, who fired two shots into the air during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising.
Banuelos was identified immediately after Jan. 6, 2021—featured on a Vice documentary flashing a handgun. The FBI had Banuelos on its radar by Feb. 4, 2021, according to charging documents.
Trump's DOJ just dropped the charges against the J6er who fired a gun during the protest.
Worth noting that John Banuelos also has described himself as a "fed" pic.twitter.com/c9HzrQUIm5— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) January 21, 2025
However, Banuelos wasn’t arrested until last March, a month after J6er Derrick Evans released footage of him firing the gun. At the time, Evans said it’s highly suspicious that the FBI didn’t arrest Banuelos until after his footage was made public.
“Government had video of him shooting a gun on J6 for over three years, but they didn’t arrest him until I broke the story and it got national coverage. Most likely another Ray Epps situation,” Evans said last March—the same month that Banuelos identified himself as “fed” on his Twitter account.
After the Jan. 6 protest, Banuelos was again in the spotlight about a year later in February 2022, when news broke that he had been arrested in relation to a fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old in a Utah park in July 2021.
When he was arrested, he reportedly told police about his activities on Jan. 6.
“Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what?” Banuelos, 39, asked detectives, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by KSL.com through a public records request.
“Do you have a warrant?” one detective asked.
“Probably,” he said. “I was in the D.C. riots.”
“On Jan. 6?” the other detective asked. “Did you go inside the Capitol?”
“Yeah, I went inside and I’m the one with the video with the gun right here,” Banuelos said.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!
This footage will DESTROY the Fake News's phony "insurrection" Narrative aimed squarely at Donald Trump!
See the whole video at https://t.co/QfyXk3jPlN pic.twitter.com/VZ6ZP4KldZ
— X America News (@XAmericaNews) February 8, 2024
Sedition Hunters, the group that helped the Biden administration’s FBI hunt down Jan. 6 prosecutors, has a file on Banuelos. One of the most interesting videos of him is from what appears to be the night before the rally, when he reveals his history of mental-health problems.
“Now I’ve got a purpose … Democrats just give you free stuff and they don’t tell you you’re crazy. How many hospitals have I been to? How many mental hospitals? Because I thought I had a problem … Now I’ve got to reprogram my brain and be humble … I’m willing to play my role. Are you willing to play yours?” he said in the video.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
