Of all the distortions and paranoia that Tucker Carlson promoted on his since-canceled Fox News program, one looms large: a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man working as a covert government agent incited the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol to sabotage and discredit former President Donald J. Trump and his political movement.
Whats known about the man a two-time Trump voter named Ray Epps is that he took part in demonstrations in Washington that day and the night before. He was captured on camera urging a crowd to march with him and enter the Capitol. But at other points, he pleads for calm once it becomes clear the situation is turning violent. He can be seen moving past a line of Capitol Police at the barricades, but never actually goes inside the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors have not charged Mr. Epps with a crime, focusing instead on the more than 1,000 other demonstrators who acted violently or were trespassing in the Capitol. The Justice Departments sprawling investigation into the attack remains open, however, and Mr. Epps could still be indicted.
Yet for more than 18 months, Mr. Carlson insisted that the lack of charges against Mr. Epps could mean only one thing: that he was being protected because he was a secret government agent. There was no rational explanation, Mr. Carlson told his audience, why this mysterious figure who helped stage-manage the insurrection had not been charged.
He repeated Mr. Eppss name over and over in nearly 20 episodes imprinting it on the minds of his viewers.
Mr. Epps was in the Marine Corps but said in his deposition before the Jan. 6 committee that he had otherwise never worked on behalf of any government agency. He and his wife, Robyn, have fled Arizona and are in hiding in another state, having sold their wedding venue business and ranch after receiving death threats from people who appeared to believe the conspiracy theory. And his legal jeopardy is far from over given that prosecutors are still unsealing new cases in connection with Jan. 6.
Now lawyers representing Mr. Epps and his wife are proceeding with plans to sue Fox News for defamation. We informed Fox in March that if they did not issue a formal on-air apology that we would pursue all available avenues to protect the Eppses rights, said Michael Teter, a lawyer for Mr. Epps who sent the network a cease-and-desist letter asking for an on-air apology and a retraction. After Mr. Teter did not hear from Fox about his request, he began to prepare the suit. That remains our intent.
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First Amendment experts say Mr. Epps has a viable case for defamation one reminiscent of the lawsuit the network recently settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, a case centered on numerous examples of false statements made on Fox News programs over an extended period.
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The attacks against Mr. Epps began circulating online after a video taken on the night before the Capitol attack. It shows Mr. Epps at a pro-Trump demonstration on a Washington street shouting that he planned to march to the Capitol and enter. After pausing for a few seconds, he adds, Peacefully. Some in the crowd begin chanting Fed! Fed! Fed! at him, implying he was a government agent trying to goad Trump supporters into committing a crime.
Another video, taken on Jan. 6, also shows Mr. Epps encouraging people to march toward the Capitol. Then he bends down to whisper in a mans ear moments before the man and rioters overcome police officers and breach the security perimeter around the Capitol grounds. It is difficult to hear what Mr. Epps says in the video.
Law enforcement immediately took note of Mr. Eppss suspicious behavior and put a picture of him on an online wanted list. Mr. Epps has said he called the F.B.I.s National Threat Operations Center shortly after the alert went up, and his phone records show he spoke to agents there for nearly an hour.
When the bureau removed him from the list a few months after agents formally interviewed him and his son in the spring of 2021 Mr. Carlson and others claimed that Mr. Eppss disappearance and the lack of criminal charges meant that the government was protecting him.
On his programs, Mr. Carlson claimed that Mr. Epps was a liar and demanded that he be arrested. In one segment that ran shortly before Fox News canceled Mr. Carlsons show in April, he showed viewers an image of the FedEx logo that had been altered to say FedEpps.
True justice would be him being indicted on the same day that Fox settles with him.
Realistically it is weird that he hasn't been charged despite being very publicly known as having participated in the insurrection. That said I hope he wins this suit. I also hope the money is immediately seized and given to the families of the victims of the insurrection (not counting the insurrectionist who died of course)
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Tah-rah-rah-boom-dee-aaay, did you get yours todaaay? I got mine yesterdaaay, that's why I walk this way. i.imgur.com/FoxGIbC.jpg
If he never entered the building, technically i think he didn't commit a crime. Assuming he didn't cause damage outside, or fight any guards. He's still a chud, but the article makes it sound like he kept his sanity a little more than many of his friends, and knew where the line to not cross was