Raw footage from newly released surveillance tapes of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot contradict testimony Ray Epps gave to federal prosecutors probing the turmoil.
On Monday, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson aired footage that showed Epps in the crowd outside the Capitol complex about 30 minutes after the time he told investigators with the Select Committee on Jan. 6 that he left the premises. Epps has been suspected to be an undercover federal agent after he urged rallygoers to storm the Capitol both on the eve and day of the riot. The FBI has refused to answer questions about his alleged connection with federal law enforcement, and the Democrats’ Select Committee has sought to clear his name.
“Epps told the committee that he never entered the Capitol, and therefore never committed a crime,” Carlson said. “Text messages show that at 2:12 p.m., he boasted to his nephew that he had ‘orchestrated the protests at the Capitol.'”
Epps told lawmakers on the House panel that when he sent the text messages to his nephew, he had already left the Capitol for his hotel room.
“That is not true,” Carlson said. “The surveillance footage we found shows that in fact, Ray Epps remained at the Capitol for at least another half an hour.”
“What was Epps doing there? We can’t say,” Carlson added. “But we do know that he lied to investigators. The January 6th Committee likely knew this too. Democrats had access to the same tape, yet they defended Ray Epps.”
The episode showcases the Select Committee’s dishonesty throughout its two-year investigation that featured performances produced by television executives.
Carlson highlighted another conspiracy conceived by the committee that alleged Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk was giving reconnaissance tours of the Capitol leading up to Jan. 6.
Democrats, Carlson said, “claimed their Republican colleagues had helped to plan the breach of the Capitol building.”
“There was never any evidence this was true, not at all, yet it was widely repeated,” said Carlson.
Surveillance tapes show Democrats were lying when they charged Loudermilk with giving tours to “insurrectionists” around the Capitol building ahead of the riot, “and the Democrats knew it was a lie when they told it,” said Carlson.
“The so-called reconnaissance mission Democrats alleged was nothing more than Congressman Loudermilk giving a guided tour to his constituents from Georgia, none of whom were ‘insurrectionists,'” Carlson explained.
“The FBI totally cleared them,” Loudermilk told Carlson. “The committee knew this before they actually made their accusations against me.”
Carlson finished Monday night’s first release of the Jan. 6 tapes by exposing how Democrats deceptively edited footage to paint Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley as a coward who ran from rioters at the Capitol. Full footage reveals Hawley was joined by many lawmakers who were forced to exit the complex.
[READ: Jan. 6 Committee’s Footage Of Sen. Josh Hawley Is Exceedingly Dishonest]
