I’m late to this conspiracy party
“You guys are trying to make this poor schmuck [Ray Epps] who showed up to your protest into something a lot bigger than he is. He’s just trying to survive and he’s on your side. You don’t have many voters left, you might want to try to hang on to them.”
There are so many RW conpiracy theories out there that I missed this one referenced in a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday (Business Insider story from July):
Ray Epps, a Marine veteran and business owner from Arizona, traveled to Washington D.C. to show his support for former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
And although he’s not among the hundreds of Capitol rioters who were arrested and charged, the events that followed ruined his life, he said.
Epps, 61, became the center of a conspiracy theory, pushed by the former president himself, that would cause him to sell his business and his home and go into hiding, according to an interview he gave to The New York Times that was published Wednesday.
“And for what — lies?” Epps told The Times. “All of this, it’s just been hell.”
The baseless theory stemmed from attempts by some on the right to blame the Capitol riot on federal agents, who they claimed wanted a reason to provoke a crackdown on conservatives.
A video of Epps taken on January 5 showed him telling other Trump supporters they needed to go into the Capitol the following day. Epps was never arrested, prompting right-wing internet sleuths to accuse him of being an undercover FBI agent or informant trying to stir up violence — despite videos that show Epps urging others to be peaceful and trying to deescalate confrontations between police and the rioters on January 6.
The theory was eventually picked up by right-wing media and Republican politicians, including Rep. Thomas Massie and Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, among others. Trump himself mentioned Epps’s name at a rally in January, suggesting he may have been working for the feds.
Massie brought up Epps again yesterday. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) let into him.
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