Ray Epps, rioter at centre of conspiracy theory, charged over January 6
Oath Keeper, who has denied being federal agent provocateur, indicted on one count of disorderly conduct in restricted area
Ray Epps – a Donald Trump supporter, Oath Keepers militia member and January 6 participant who became the subject of
rightwing conspiracy theories about the attack on Congress – has been charged with one criminal count related to the riot.
In
a court filing in US district court in Washington DC, dated Monday, federal prosecutors charged Epps with disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
A former US marine from Arizona, Epps went to Washington in January 2021 to join protesters seeking to block Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential election the previous November.
On the night of 5 January, he was filmed in downtown Washington, telling other Trump supporters: “Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol … peacefully.”
The next day, as Trump told supporters to “fight like hell” in his cause, the Capitol came under attack. The attack failed and Trump’s defeat was confirmed. Nine deaths have now been linked to the riot.
The notion that Epps was a federal agent, acting as a provocateur, took root early. On the night of 5 January, some around him chanted: “Fed! Fed! Fed! Fed!” In footage of the attack, after a Capitol police officer went down, Epps was seen pulling a rioter aside.
Rightwing media, prominently including the then Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson, eagerly took up the theory that Epps was linked to federal agents.
In July, Epps filed
a defamation suit against Fox News, which the rightwing network has
sought to dismiss.
Epps spoke to CBS in August.
“I said some stupid things,” he said. “My thought process, we surround the Capitol, we get all the people there. I mean, I had problems with the election. It was my duty as an American to peacefully protest, along with anybody else that wanted to.”
Of the moment involving the fallen officer, he said he told the rioter: “‘Dude, we’re not here for that. The police aren’t the enemy,’ or something like that.”
He denied any links to police or federal agencies. There is no evidence he committed any acts of violence on January 6, or entered the Capitol.
He told CBS that after he went to help an injured man, he “looked back at the Capitol, and there was people crawling up the Capitol walls. And it looked … terrible. I mean, I was kind of ashamed of what was going on at that point. So I started to walk out.”
Asked about efforts to “paint you as this instigator”, citing his own actions and messages, Epps said: “There was an effort to make me a scapegoat.”
Earlier this year, Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right Proud Boys group who was ultimately
sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the riot,
invoked the Epps conspiracy theory while testifying in court.
Epps was charged by information, suggesting a plea deal may be likely.
On Tuesday, lawyers for Epps did not immediately comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/19/ray-epps-charged-january-6-conspiracy-theory
awww shucks. they've charged ray epps for his crimes at the capitol too.
ray epps has now been charged for his participation in the capitol riot. what a crying shame! now the maga trash are gonna have to forget about this maga muppet and come up with a new whataboutism and scapegoat to try to downplay or deflect away from their own crimes on january 6'th. i know, i'll bet it was some transgender who was the mastermind behind the capitol riots or whatever! a drag performer sent them in there!
i wonder how long this oath keeper will decide to keep his oath for, or if he'll start dropping dime on his homeboys just like all the rest of the oath keepers have been doing after getting hauled off to jail?
assuming that this chud wins the defamation lawsuit against faux noise, he would literally be the one heap of maga trash who actually succeeded at accomplishing anything on january 6'th, while his own peers threw him under the bus and called him an fbi agent lol. he'll get hit with some fines and probation and whatever and he'll be sitting there counting his stacks of rupert murdoch's money while the rest of his fellow rioters sit in their cells waiting for diaper don and tuck tuck to throw them a few dollars on their books so that they can buy their two scoops of Trump Lube.
i mean maybe faux noise and tuck tuck should stop using real world people and real world companies as their scapegoats to blame all of their conspiracies and crimes on, and stick to pointing the fingers at dead people, ghosts of dead venezuelan presidents, italian space satellites, obama's microwaves, chinese thermostats, and other inanimate objects that can't fight back in court and bitch slap you with defamation lawsuits. it would probably work out alot better for these fake news propagandists. this dudes probably gonna be washing his hands of faux noise and laughing straight to the bank.