On Jan. 5, 2021, a video emerged showing a middle-aged man in a MAGA hat standing next to Jayden X, or John Sullivan – a known Antifa organizer – telling a group of people who had assembled that they needed to “go into the Capitol” on Jan. 6.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie played the video at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday and asked Attorney General Merrick Garland if the man in the video was an FBI informant. Garland refused to answer.
"I just played this video for AG Merrick Garland. He refused to comment on how many agents or assets of the federal government were present in the crowd on Jan. 5th and 6th and how many entered the Capitol."
In the video, the man says: "I don’t even like to say it because I’ll be arrested. I’ll say it. We need to go into the Capitol."
The Arizona Republic in January identified the man as Ray Epps of Queen Creek, Arizona.
Epps told the newspaper: "I didn't do anything wrong."
Since then, several outlets, including The New York Times, and social media posts have identified Epps as the man in the video. Several have also noted that he was "posing" as a Trump supporter and noted that he has not been arrested in connection to the events of Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
On Thursday, Massie asked Garland: "Can you tell us without talking about particular videos how many agents or assets of the government were present on January 6th? Whether they agitated to go into the Capitol? And if any of them did?"
Garland refused to answer.
Meanwhile, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube grilled Garland on the unreported violent protest at the Interior Department last week and what appears to be a two-tiered justice system in America.
.@RepGregSteube: "Would you call both of these acts domestic terrorism?"
GARLAND: "I'm not going to comment about particular matters." STEUBE: "You're refusing to call [Left-wing] groups...who commit the same atrocities...domestic terrorists." pic.twitter.com/M2TZNmlroz — Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 21, 2021
Garland refused to answer.
Free Press International
