January 6 committee to release details of interview with Ray Epps

"Assistant US Attorney Karen Rochlin said in court on Tuesday that she intended to provide a 'disclosure' about Epps, a former Oath Keeper, in response to requests by Jan. 6 defendants accused of leading the breach of police lines — including Ryan Samsel, who briefly huddled with Epps before charging the barricades," reported Politico.

"Epps, they noted, was not arrested despite being toward the front of the riotous crowd. And although his face initially appeared on a list of unidentified suspects, it was removed months after the breach. That led to unsupported claims that Epps was a government informant," the report added.

Politico stated in their report that "…there’s no evidence that Epps has any government ties."

The outlet wrote that a spokesperson for the January 6 Committee claimed that Epps testified that he had never been an informant for the FBI and that he was not working for any law enforcement agencies during the riot.

According to the report, defense attorneys for other Jan. 6 defendants "…demanded details of what Epps did that day and of his connection, if any, to law enforcement. At a court hearing on Tuesday, Rochlin, the prosecutor handling one of the Capitol riot conspiracy cases, said the government was preparing something aimed at satisfying those requests."

Rochlin said, that she expected the release to take "…another week or two," for it to come out and that what she could tell the court was that "...the US Attorney’s Office has been working on a disclosure pertaining to Mr. Epps."

During a January 2022 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on domestic terrorism threats one year after the riot, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) grilled National Security Division Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen over his apparent lack of answers to numerous questions Cotton asked, including why Ray Epps was removed from the FBI's most wanted page.

Cotton followed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioning Jill Sanborn, executive assistant director of the National Security Branch of the FBI, asking what role the FBI played in the Jan. 6. He asked her outright "How many FBI agents or confidential informations actively participated in the events of January 6?" Sanborn declined to answer, saying she could not go into "sources and methods."

Cruz asked if any FBI agents or confidential informants committed acts of violence on that day, or actively encouraged or incited crimes of violence, questions Sanborn declined to answer.

Cruz also brought up Ray Epps, "On the night of January 5, 2021, Epps wandered around the crowd that had gathered, and there's video of him out there chanting 'tomorrow, we need to get into the Capitol.' This was strange behavior," Cruz said, "so strange that the crowd began chanting 'fed fed fed.'"

"Was Ray Epps a fed?" Cruz asked.

Sanborn could not say.

"Shortly thereafter, the FBI put out a public post listing, seeking information on individuals connected with violent crimes on January 6. Among those individuals... is Mr. Reps. The FBI publicly asked for information, identifying, offering cash rewards leading to information leading to the arrest.

"This was posted and then sometime later, magically, Mr. Epps just disappeared from the public posting, according to public records, Mr. Epps has not been charged with anything. No one's explained why a person videoed urging people to go to the Capitol, a person whose conduct was so suspect the crowd believed he was a fed would magically disappear from the list of people the FBI was looking at.

"Miss Sanborn, A lot of Americans are concerned that the federal government deliberately encouraged illegal unlawful conduct on January 6. My question to you, and this is not an ordinary law enforcement question, this is a question of public accountability... Are those in service of federal agent actively encouraged violent and criminal conduct on January sixth?

"Not to my knowledge, sir," Sanborn replied.