Assault on the Capitol Indictment of a man wrongly portrayed as an agent provocateur (Washington) A man wrongly accused by right-wing American media of having acted as an agent provocateur for the federal police during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was charged on Tuesday for his behavior that day.
Like hundreds of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, Ray Epps went to the US Congress that day to protest against the “theft” of the presidential election by Joe Biden.
Mr. Epps himself initiated defamation proceedings in July against the Fox News network for presenting him as an undercover agent of the FBI, the US federal police, after having incited the crowd to storm the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification. by Joe Biden. victory.
In his complaint he indicated that he attended the demonstration on January 6, 2021, convinced that “the elections had been stolen” from Donald Trump due to “lies spread by Fox,” but he did not enter the Capitol.
But Ray Epps is now being prosecuted for disruptive behavior in a restricted area during the storming of the Capitol.
Since January 6, 2021, more than 1,100 people have been arrested and charged. More than half were sentenced, most to prison terms.
Donald Trump was not directly affected by the courts by the events of that day, although the commission of inquiry of January 6, 2021, recommended criminal proceedings against him in December 2022, in particular for calling for rebellion and conspiracy against American institutions.
He was indicted in August by a federal court in Washington and then by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for his allegedly illicit attempts to obtain the overturning of the 2020 election results.
