Last Updated on July 14, 2022
The New York Times has released a puff piece that attempts to absolve the mysterious Ray Epps of wrongdoing in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol protests. Epps has not been charged despite numerous cell phone videos that captured him encouraging Trump supporters to storm the Capitol.
I want to hear from Ray Epps… Who told him to do this? pic.twitter.com/2JQeiMDKfl
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) July 13, 2022
“‘It’s Just Been Hell:’ Life as the Victim of a Jan 6. Conspiracy Theory,” reads the headline of the NYT’s puff-piece. The piece portrays Epps as a victim of right-wing “disinformation” campaigns tying him to 1-6, despite mountains of video evidence supporting the accusations.
The Ray Epps story first made national headlines after a story from Darren Beattie of Revolver News. Revolver, which the New York Times referred to as an “obscure” outlet, highlighted a number of videos in which Epps could be seen encouraging Trump supporters to storm the building. Epps was seen engaging in this behavior as Trump supporters began to arrive in D.C. on January 5, as well as the following day on January 6.
READ MORE: Meet Ray Epps: The Fed-Protected Provocateur Who Appears To Have Led The Very First 1/6 Attack On The U.S. Capitol – Revolver News
Ray Epps was even at the front of the crowd as Trump’s supporters peacefully marched towards the Capitol. From there, the crowd was invited by a number of individuals — including Ray Epps and a mysterious man with a bullhorn — to go over the barricades and enter the building.
This is the first barrier taken down at Ray Epps direction. The same Ray Epps that the J6 Committee has defended for never being charged.
— @JoJoMichigan (@JoMichigan1) April 27, 2022
Epps was initially on the FBI’s wanted list following the incident, but he was soon removed. He is also not facing any charges stemming from his actions before and during the protests.
Many have questioned whether Epps was a government agent, or an informant, due to the lack of charges against him.
Despite the mountain of evidence confirming Ray Epps incited the crowd on January 6, the New York Times attempted to sweep this fact under the rug. “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,” wrote the NYT.
According to the outlet, Epps is a Trump supporter who travelled to Washington D.C. to listen to Trump’s speech on election fraud. But as Revolver News pointed out, Epps did not even attend Trump’s speech on the National Mall, as he was busy rounding up a group to go to the Capitol and break in.
“Did Alan Feuer, the obscure NYT reporter who penned the puff piece, think to ask ‘Trump supporter’ Epps why he travelled all the way to DC and skipped Trump’s speech?” Revolver asked in a rebuttal piece.
Epps has not been asked to testify before the January 6 committee despite its stated goal of attempting to get to the bottom of the lead-up to the day’s events. As Epps is the only person captured on camera calling for people to storm the building, this has raised many questions.
Ironically, Ray Epps is named as an organizer of the day’s events in a video series published by none other than The New York Times. Videos of Epps inciting the crowd on January 5 are included in the NYT video titled, “Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the US Capitol.”
The very same NYT that now dismisses "conspiracies" about Ray Epps refers to Epps in its own definitive video documentary as a rioters for whom "storming the capitol was part of the plot all along" pic.twitter.com/fqd7Q9DvqV
— Darren J. Beattie
(@DarrenJBeattie) July 14, 2022