After all the bloviating about Trump supporters planning to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and overthrow the government, Ray Epps is the only person who was captured on video actually exhorting people to enter the building.
Epps has not been arrested. Instead, he has become a darling of Big Media.
The New York Times initiated the Big Media-Ray Epps love affair in July 2022. The Times lamented that “Ray Epps has suffered enormously in the past 10 months as right-wing media figures and Republican politicians have baselessly described him as a covert government agent who helped to instigate the attack on the Capitol last year.” The article quoted Epps as saying, “It’s just been hell.”
Now, 60 Minutes has joined the Epps lovefest: “In conservative media, Ray Epps is a notorious villain, responsible for turning the protests on January 6 into a riot. It is a convoluted conspiracy theory he denies. He’s now in hiding, facing death threats."
PJ Media's Robert Spencer noted: "A convoluted conspiracy theory? Really? How convoluted is this? Ray Epps is on video on Jan. 5, 2021, saying, 'I’m gonna put it out there. I’m probably gonna go to jail for it, okay?' He didn’t. 'Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol. Into the Capitol.' The people around him in the video aren’t buying it and start chanting, 'Fed! Fed! Fed!' "
60 Minutes aired its interview with Epps on Sunday.
Epps said: “I had problems with the election. It was my duty as an American to peacefully protest along with anybody else who wanted to.”
60 Minutes does not mention that Epps was caught on video encouraging people to enter the Capitol and leading the charge through police barriers, gong so far as to whisper in the ear of one protester who then tears down a police barricade.
60 Minutes shows President Donald Trump speaking on Jan. 6 and saying "we’re going to walk to the Capitol." It cuts off the party where Trump implores his supporters to do so “peacefully.”
In yet another instance, Epps is caught on video saying, “We are going to the Capitol, where our problems are.” Pointing, he helpfully tells protesters, “It’s that direction. Please spread the word.”
Spencer noted: "In light of all this, and knowing that Epps has never even been arrested and is now the focus of not one but two establishment media puff pieces, it’s increasingly difficult to escape the suspicion that he was an agent provocateur trying to ensure that protesters breached the Capitol so as to establish the Left’s bogus and hole-ridden 'insurrection' narrative. If this were not true, Epps would be languishing in prison in Washington today along with the others who did far less than he did."
The Gateway Pundit pointed out that eight Trump supporters are serving prison terms for “touching” a huge Trump sign that was thrown at police on Jan. 6. No officers were injured in what the feds ruled was an “assault” on police.
Patty McMurray at 100 Percent Fed Up discovered in J6 video that Epps had been one of those holding the large sign that was thrown at police. After the sign is released, the video shows Epps standing and directing the crowd.
Kelly Wilde reported for the Gateway Pundit that "anyone who touched the sign — 'an enormous battering ram,' according to prosecutors — was denied bond and subject to lengthy prison sentences.
Those sentences include:
• Howard Richardson - 46 months
• Charles "Brad" Smith -41 months
• Marshall Neefe - 41 months
• Alan Byerly - 34 months
• Thomas Hamner - 30 months
• Jose Padilla - held 25 months
• Sean McHugh – 22 months in prison and still waiting for trial
"The average sentence for these men is around 3 years in prison – for TOUCHING the sign that Ray Epps hurled at police," Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft noted. "This is absolute tyranny. Our government is openly attacking its citizens."
Ray Epps denied working for the FBI during Capitol Riot. Protesters at the scene didn't buy it. I don't buy it. pic.twitter.com/jGQTFwe7kM
— Tony Keiser (@keiserrott) December 30, 2022
Free Press International
[Freedom Is Not Free!]
