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Ray Epps was leading the protestors. So why not go after him
Channeling a question by another Patnetter- I wonder if we have our own Ray Epps on this board?
I haven't watched 60 Minutes in years, and don't intend on wasting my time when they air their puff piece on Ray Epps. No doubt, they're going to paint him as the innocent victim, instead of being the Fed agent provocateur that he was on that fateful day.
That is why J Edgar Hoover had his dirt files on people in power. He used it as "leverage".
So what exactly does the curious case of Stewart Rhodes have to do with Ray Epps?
Students of FBI history should quickly absorb the lesson that infiltrating Feds are like roaches: whenever you spot one, it is guaranteed there are dozens of others nearby. Feds simply never, ever, operate alone. This is how you end up with at least 12 FBI informants in a tiny “right-wing” Michigan militia plot from October 2020 (that’s just informants, not even agents), 15 informants in the “right-wing” 2016 Malheur plot, dozens in the 2014 Bundy Ranch affair — including six FBI undercover agents posing as fake documentarians shooting a fake documentary — and the list goes on.
You’ll be shocked, then, to learn that the Oath Keepers sport an eye-poppingly long history of FBI infiltration.
And lo and below, Ray Epps and Oath Keepers kingpin Stewart Rhodes are old pals in the organization. In fact, Stewart Rhodes was Ray Epps’s old boss. Back in 2011-2012, Epps was the Arizona state chapter leader of the Oath Keepers — the biggest Oath Keepers chapter in the country — while Rhodes was and remains the national leader. (See, e.g., archived proof of Epps as Arizona Oath Keeper President here, here and here.) Reason Magazine’s Radley Balko even interviewed Ray Epps while Epps was running the Arizona Oath Keepers a decade ago:
This week I also spoke with Ray Epps, a retired Marine sergeant from Mesa, Arizona and president of the Arizona chapter of Oath Keepers, the controversial organization of police and military personnel who have vowed not to enforce laws they believe are unconstitutional. After hearing about Guerena’s death, Epps drove to Tucson to investigate.
Oddly, Stewart Rhodes’s website OathKeepers.org deleted several historical blog posts featuring events run by Ray Epps, where Epps was listed as both President and Press Contact.
The Wayback Machine’s automatic archiving process suggests Stewart Rhodes’s OathKeepers.org posts concerning Ray Epps were effectively dormant from 2011 until 2021. Then, at approximately 3 p.m. on January 27, 2021, there is an update showing the page had been 404’d.
Why Isn’t Ray Epps In Prison?
Brian Wilson analyzes the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Ray Epps and asks why he hasn’t been arrested or prosecuted for his actions as other January 6th protestors have who were far less active in instigating a riot.
Because the FBI planted him there as an instigator, duh.
J6 Defendant on Ray Epps: ‘They Are Protecting Him Like Crazy’
Epps’ unusual defenders make less and less sense.
By Julie Kelly
June 5, 2023
patrick.net/memes
Writes Patrick.net Memes
8 min ago
"resulting in a hundred thousand supporters storming Congress"
Not so. The door were deliberately unlocked from the inside, and FBI agitators like Ray Epps cajoled and pushed protestors in. To this day, We The People are not allowed to see most of the footage, because the number of FBI plants was so large, and to broadcast their faces makes them less valuable for similar false-flag ops in the future.
Some, like Buffalo man, were literally given an escorted tour by Capitol Police the entire time, and then imprisoned. Others walked nicely between the velvet ropes. They took selfies and waved to others' cameras.
Everyone who walked in was competely unarmed.
At the kangaroo court "hearings", the video presented was doctored, adding screams and breaking glass sounds, because the reality was too peaceful.
One Capitol Policeman died of a vaxx-induced stroke (they were given the toxxine first, lucky them). The media lied that he was hit on the head, which is completely false. The only real violence was the outright murder of unarmed protestor Ashley Babbitt by a Capitol Policeman.
This was no "storming" at all. That's just that official lie, one we should never repeat.
@FreeStateWill
Americans exercising freedom of the press have been reporting Ray Epps is a plant since January 5, 2021.
Epps remained on Capitol grounds at least 40 minutes longer than DOJ claimed.
In a 14-page statement of offense signed by Epps on September 10, assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon detailed Epps’ behavior on the evening of January 5 and part of the day on January 6. Gordon acknowledged Epps’ presence at a rally at Black Lives Matter Plaza the night before the Capitol protest where Epps encouraged people to go “in to the Capitol” the following day.
Epps’ involvement in the first breach of an exterior barrier—including his whispering in the ear of Ryan Samsel, one of the first individuals to knock down metal racks at Peace Circle on January 6—was covered as well.
DOJ gave short shrift to Epps’ presence at the second breach point moment later; Epps touched then appeared to help protesters hold down part of a fence, which created an opening for people to get closer to the building right as the joint session of Congress convened at 1 pm. (Recall how a federal judge recently designated the unauthorized touching of a temporary fence an act of terrorism.)
She also proves contradictions in Epps account of events and has video to back it up:
Epps: “I also orchestrated it.”
So, why did Gordon claim Epps left at least a half hour before he actually did? It appears the DOJ attempted to substantiate Epps’ false testimony to the January 6 Select Committee last year.
Epps told committee members that “at 2:12 pm, I was on my way back to the hotel room.”
The 2:12 pm mark is crucial; according to his phone records, Epps sent this text to his nephew: “I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.” When pressed by the January 6 Select Committee to explain what he meant by the text, Epps insisted it was just normal banter between family.
He twice more testified that he was off Capitol grounds when the text was sent at 2:12 pm. But he wasn’t on his way back to the hotel or exiting the premises. At 2:12, Epps is seen on video, refusing to leave even after police dispensed tear gas on the increasingly agitated crowd:
The rest is here.
https://www.declassified.live/p/why-did-doj-and-ray-epps-lie-about
I wonder if this is another Machiavelli act by the Democrat DOJ. Its to give Epps cover as far as trying to hide that he was an agent provocateur.
ad says
I wonder if this is another Machiavelli act by the Democrat DOJ. Its to give Epps cover as far as trying to hide that he was an agent provocateur.
Yes, he's not put in solitary for a year awaiting trial, he's not getting patriot act enhanced charged, and he'll be eligible for parole almost instantly.
ad says
I wonder if this is another Machiavelli act by the Democrat DOJ. Its to give Epps cover as far as trying to hide that he was an agent provocateur.
Yes, he's not put in solitary for a year awaiting trial, he's not getting patriot act enhanced charged, and he'll be eligible for parole almost instantly.
Politico ran a story yesterday headlined, “Ray Epps, pro-Trump rioter smeared by conspiracy theories, gets probation for role in Capitol riot.” James Ray Epps, Sr., the only January 6th protestor to actually encourage people to go into the Capitol, including saying “we’re here to storm the Capitol,” and who texted his nephew claiming to have “orchestrated” the Capitol riot, was harshly sentenced in DC court yesterday, as he deserved. Epps’s hard sentence was: a year probation, a $500 fine, and a 100 hours of community service, which he may perform, at his option, at other conservative rallies or at the FBI’s regional field office. Haha, I made up that last part. But sadly, not the rest.
The Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, James Boasberg, wrestled with the difficult decision, for at least as long as it took him to say “This is not an easy sentencing.” Then he tossed the felony charges and gave Epps misdemeanor probation, because, and I am not making this up, he felt Epps had suffered enough from deranged Trump supporters who kept throwing Epps’s own words and actions in his face.
In the Chief Judge’s view, just like an Old Testament prophet, or maybe more like peace-loving, non-violent martyr Mahatma Ghandi, James Ray Epps similarly suffered for “what (he) didn’t do.”
In other words, Ray has already been punished.
There have been so many J6 cases it’s impossible to keep up with them all. But I think this might be the lightest sentence given to any January 6th defendant, including people sentenced who weren’t even in DC on January 6. Julie Kelly, who closely watches the cases, said in the rare cases where defendants have received probation only, it is usually for 2-3 years and usually includes paternalistic conditions, such as staying off social media.
The Court also granted Epps’ motion to attend his sentencing hearing by phone. He didn’t even have to go down there. I probably don’t need to tell you that is highly irregular. (From what I can tell, for some reason, Epps thought he might be served with one or more subpoenas if he attended in person.)
Oh — in case you’re not entirely furious yet: the Chief Judge gave Epps a lighter sentence than the US Attorney requested, which was six months in jail. Lest you feel too much angst, that request was just a beard; this charade was never intended to end with Epps in a cell, not even for a quiet afternoon.
My speculation is this sideshow was meant to resolve Epps’ criminal liability, in case a new administration takes over in January with a different prosecutorial appetite. Now that he’s been sentenced for his “crimes,” Ray cannot be re-tried on the same grounds. In other words, it might have been trivially-easy for a new DOJ to send Epps to jail for 25 years for inciting the insurrection; a sentence that would have been completely consistent with all the previous ones.
But Ray does not benefit from double-jeopardy for anything other crimes. And the shadowy, so-far unnamed people who gave Ray his orders, those people aren’t protected by this little circus. Theoretically, and I recognize this is a long shot, but Ray’s bosses could also be prosecuted for run-of-the-mill J6 offenses on a conspiracy theory. Think of a trespassing charge for every person who entered the Capitol on January 6th, with sentences to run sequentially.
Ironically, President Trump — who was not granted permission to attend by phone — was attending a separate hearing in one of his cases in the same courthouse at the time of Epps’ sentencing.
Whew! I’m sure you are as glad as I am to see justice for Ray Epps.
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