The Biden administration is reportedly preparing to release more information about Ray Epps, a man who has been accused of being “a fed” during the January 6, 2021, riot that broke out at the U.S. Capitol.
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin said in court on Tuesday that she intended to provide a ‘disclosure’ about Epps, a former Oath Keeper, in response to requests by Jan. 6 defendants accused of leading the breach of police lines — including Ryan Samsel, who briefly huddled with Epps before charging the barricades,” Politico reported. “Epps, who was seen on video on Jan. 5, 2021, urging Trump supporters to go ‘into the Capitol’ — adding that they should be ‘peaceful’ — became the focus of conspiracy theories pushed by right-wing media outlets.”
“Epps, they noted, was not arrested despite being toward the front of the riotous crowd,” the report added. “And although his face initially appeared on a list of unidentified suspects, it was removed months after the breach. That led to unsupported claims that Epps was a government informant.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) grilled Jill Sanborn, executive assistant director for the FBI’s national security branch, about Epps during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing back in January titled, “The Domestic Terrorism Threat One Year After January 6.”
Sanborn repeatedly refused to answer Cruz’s questions about whether FBI agents or confidential informants participated during the January 6 riot.
“Miss Sanborn, was Ray Epps a fed?” Cruz asked.
“Sir, I cannot answer that question,” Sanborn replied.
Politico’s report says that “there’s no evidence that Epps has any government ties” and that spokesperson for the January 6 Committee claims that Epps testified that he had never been an informant for the FBI and that he was not working for any law enforcement agencies during the riot.
The report continued:
However, defense attorneys for others accused of crimes on Jan. 6 have demanded details of what Epps did that day and of his connection, if any, to law enforcement. At a court hearing on Tuesday, Rochlin, the prosecutor handling one of the Capitol riot conspiracy cases, said the government was preparing something aimed at satisfying those requests.
“What I can … tell the court is that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been working on a disclosure pertaining to Mr. Epps,” Rochlin said, saying that she expected it to take, “another week or two” for it to come out.
Story cited here.
