You can add a query to the tale about Ray Epps.
The NY Times just wrote an article on him, and they're trying to let us be aware the fact that this has “been hell” for Epps. The headline of the story is: “‘It's Just Been Hell': Life as the Victim of a Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory.”
Here's the tweets that one of the other reporters tweeted about the story.
“Ray Epps has suffered enormously in the past 10 months as right-wing media figures and Republican politicians have baselessly described him as a covert government agent who helped to instigate the attack on the Capitol last year.”
The NY Times story claims that the videos published by those in right-wing media were edited selectively to show this.
Media outlets that are not well-known to the right, such as Revolver News, used selectively edited videos and unsubstantiated logic to portray him as a secret federal agent responsible for the “breach team” that initiated the riots on the Capitol.
Ray Epps was on video encouraging people on January 5th to head to the Capitol the following day. The video also showed him telling people on Jan. 6 to visit the Capitol following his speech. However, it was reported that the NY Times referred to the man who recorded this video footage of Epps as an “agent provocateur.”
“During the event, he was videotaped by a right-wing provocateur encouraging people to go inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 in what he described, even at the time, as a form of peaceful protest,” the NY Times claimed.
To the Times, this guy was the provocateur. However, that's not the case with Epps even though the Times claimed that he played a role in organizing individuals to visit the Capitol.
And then there's another interesting part of the Times report.
Epps said that he did not behave well when he and his son made a last-minute trip to Washington to attend Trump's speech on election fraud. However, he claimed that he managed to avoid arrest since he contacted the F.B.I. within minutes of learning that agents were interested in speaking with him.
On January. 8 2021, only two days later, Epps learned from a family member that the F.B.I. issued a “be-on the-lookout” alert for him. He claimed he immediately contacted the Bureau's National Threat Operations Center, and the phone records of his call show that he spoke with staff there for almost a full hour.
The F.B.I. has refused to provide any information on Epps's case, but his report of calling the operation center—and having an official meeting with federal officers in March of 2021—is confirmed by transcripts of these interviews which were examined by The New York Times.
The transcripts of the interview reveal the fact that Epps told agents that he spent a lot in the Capitol in an effort to calm the rioters around him, a statement that is backed by numerous videos.
So, his conversations with the FBI were recorded, and he contacted them? Interesting.
It is quite interesting that out of the many people who were at the Capitol on the day of the protest, the only one that is being portrayed as a “victim” by the liberal media or is supported by Jan. 6 Committee chairman Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is this person, Ray Epps. The protesters who perished that day aren’t being portrayed by the media as “victims.” This is intriguing, in contrast to the way everyone else who was involved that day were portrayed as an affront against “democracy” by the liberal media and the left. Kinzinger even said “Ray” was a “misled man.” Kinzinger stated that Epps claimed that he didn't work for the FBI.
The NY Times reporter who published this story earned the highest ratio in the way he described Epps as a victim. Many people pointed out that Epps was not imprisoned like many others, despite urging people to enter the Capitol. It seems to me that going to The NY Times to convince people was not the best idea ever.
