Ray Epps, sub­ject of Jan. 6 con­spir­a­cy, charged by DOJ in con­nec­tion with Capi­tol riot

Ray Epps, a pro­test­er filmed dur­ing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capi­tol who became the focus of online the­o­ries about the gov­ern­ment plot­ting the inci­dent, was charged with mis­de­meanor dis­or­der­ly con­duct this week.
He faces one count of know­ing­ly engag­ing in “dis­or­der­ly and dis­rup­tive con­duct” with the “intent to impede and dis­rupt” the gov­ern­men­t’s planned activ­i­ty on Jan. 6, 2021, accord­ing to a Mon­day fil­ing.
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Sup­port­ers of Don­ald Trump are seen wav­ing flags in front of the Capi­tol in Wash­ing­ton on Jan. 6, 2021.
(Graeme Jen­nings / Wash­ing­ton Exam­in­er)

Epps pre­vi­ous­ly filed a defama­tion law­suit against Fox News and for­mer opin­ion host Tuck­er Carl­son over their por­tray­al of him, accord­ing to a July fil­ing.
Mon­day’s charges state that then-Vice Pres­i­dent Mike Pence was pre­sid­ing over the joint ses­sion of Con­gress for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of the 2020 elec­tion. Epp­s’s con­duct “did in fact impede and dis­rupt the order­ly con­duct of Gov­ern­ment busi­ness and offi­cial func­tions,” U.S. Attor­ney Matthew Graves wrote in the short two-page fil­ing.
One night before the riot, Epps was cap­tured on sev­er­al cam­era angles telling a group of pro-Trump sup­port­ers that they should “go into the Capi­tol” fol­low­ing for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s speech that took place the next day.
A lack of any charges against Epps until now com­pelled some online con­spir­a­cies to per­co­late that Epps was some­how a fed­er­al offi­cer who was plant­ed to agi­tate oth­er pro­test­ers.
Dur­ing an inter­view with the House Jan. 6 com­mit­tee last year, Epps said he went to Wash­ing­ton in ear­ly Jan­u­ary 2021 to sup­port Trump after he lost the 2020 elec­tion, but he not­ed the con­spir­a­cies that fol­lowed have sig­nif­i­cant­ly dis­rupt­ed his life.
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“I nev­er intend­ed to break the law,” Epps, a for­mer Marine, told the com­mit­tee. “It’s not in my DNA. I’ve nev­er — I’m sure you’ve looked up my record. I don’t break the law.”
The­o­ries sur­round­ing Epps have cir­cu­lat­ed in right-wing cir­cles since the riot. His name was even involved dur­ing the tri­al of Dominic Pez­zo­la, a mem­ber of the Proud Boys who was sen­tenced to 10 years in prison for his actions on Jan. 6.
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