Originally published July 13, 2023 8:06 am PDT
Ray Epps, the 62-year-old Marine veteran from Arizona, who had been a significant player in the tumult at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, anticipates facing criminal charges.
The news was unveiled during a lawsuit Epps lodged against Fox News and its former host, Tucker Carlson, on Wednesday, accusing them of defamation.
Epps’s attorney disclosed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had notified his client about the intention to initiate criminal proceedings related to the Capitol unrest in May 2023.
It was stated in the lawsuit that “Finally, in May 2023, the Department of Justice notified Epps that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January 6, 2021.”
The accusation that Epps is an undercover federal agent involved in instigating some of the events on Jan 6 has been circulating for quite a while, a charge Epps vehemently denies.
In the lawsuit, Epps’s legal representation shifted the blame towards Carlson for the upcoming charges.
Epps, spotted in several video footages from the day of the Capitol riot and the previous day, has been a central figure in this incident from its onset.
Dressed in a Trump hat, he seemed to be directing the events and repeatedly urged other Trump supporters to “go into the Capitol” the next day.
At least four times on video, he underscored this call to action, saying, “I’ll say it. We need to go into the Capitol.”
One video showed Epps rallying a crowd on the eve of the attack to enter the Capitol, prompting some to chant “Fed! Fed! Fed!,” suspecting him to be a government agent provoking Trump supporters into unlawful acts.
Another video shows Epps whispering something into a man’s ear just moments before the man and other rioters breach the security perimeter, adding to the theory that Epps was involved in orchestrating the breach.
In his interview with the Jan 6 committee, Epps explains a text he sent to his nephew at 2:12 p.m. on Jan 6 saying he was upfront and had “orchestrated” things.
“I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it,” he texted his nephew.
On Wednesday, when FBI Director Christopher Wray was questioned by lawmakers about Epps and other concerns, he declined to comment on the potential prosecution of specific individuals, responding, “I’m not going to engage here in a discussion about individual people who are or are not going to be prosecuted.”
