The select committee formed to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol said that Ray Epps, a man at the center of unproven theories that federal authorities provoked the riot, asserted in an interview that he was not a law enforcement agent or acting as an informant.
“The Select Committee is aware of unsupported claims that Ray Epps was an FBI informant based on the fact that he was on the FBI Wanted list and then was removed from that list without being charged. The Select Committee has interviewed Mr. Epps. Mr. Epps informed us that he was not employed by, working with, or acting at the direction of any law enforcement agency on January 5th or 6th or at any other time, and that he has never been an informant for the FBI or any other law enforcement agency,” a select committee spokesperson said in a statement.
Epps, an Arizona resident and a former president of the Arizona Oath Keepers militia group, was seen in videos urging a crowd of Trump supporters on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, to “go into the Capitol.”
He is one of three people who have mysteriously disappeared from the FBI’s Capitol Violence most wanted list without an explanation from federal authorities or an arrest.
FEDERAL AUTHORITIES WON’T SAY WHY ARMED CAPITOL RIOTERS DISAPPEARED FROM FBI’S MOST WANTED LIST
Those videos prompted theories, pushed by some congressional Republicans, that Epps was a federal agent or informant.
During an October hearing, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie asked Attorney General Merrick Garland about the video and asked him to put to rest the theory that FBI assets or agents were present on Jan. 6 and agitated people to go into the Capitol. Garland declined, citing a long-standing policy not to comment on pending investigations.
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. pic.twitter.com/lvd9n4mMHK
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 21, 2021
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday similarly grilled Jill Sanborn, the FBI’s executive assistant director for the national security branch, on whether bureau informants were present at the Jan. 6 riots. He focused on Epps.
On the anniversary of the riot, Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia played videos of Epps and others whom they suggested could be federal agents or informants stoking a “fedsurrection.”
The reason for taking Epps off the FBI’s Capitol Violence most wanted list remains unknown.
