A court filing against a supporter of former President Donald Trump has poured more cold water on a popular conspiracy theory after prosecutors recommended he be locked up for six months.
Ray Epps pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in September after admitting to joining the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Claims that Epps was a federal agent acting on behalf of the likes of the FBI have been discounted by the House Select Committee investigation into the attack.
The significant sentence length does little to promote conspiracy claims that the events of the day were a false flag.
The false flag conspiracy is popular and has been openly discussed by the likes of Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Green and Matt Gaetz, both Trump supporters.
Epps sued Fox News for defamation in July over comments made by former host Tucker Carlson. Fox has moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
Epps was seen in a number of videos in the days before and on the day of the riot. On January 5, he was heard urging people to go into the Capitol "peacefully."
He was seen on January 6 in a video saying: "As soon as the president is done speaking, we go to the Capitol."
Epps, former president of the Arizona chapter of the far-right Oath Keepers group, has always denied going inside the Capitol, but prosecutors say he was involved a "a rugby scrum-like group effort" to get past police officers.
His charge of one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds carries a one-year sentence, but mitigating factors were highlighted in the prosecution's recommended jail term.
In a filing in the D.C. District Court, prosecutors said the case against Epps is unique because he turned himself in on January 8, 2021, cooperated with the FBI and Congress' investigations, showed remorse and engaged in acts to de-escalate violence on the day of the riot.
Epps was previously charged with "knowingly, and with intent to impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions, engage in disorderly and disruptive conduct in and within such proximity to, a restricted building and grounds...and so that such conduct did in fact impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions, and attempted and conspired to do so."
This is a key part of the theory for those who believe the conspiracy. Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on X, formerly Twitter, wrote: "One misdemeanor charge for the man caught on camera telling people 'We need to go into the Capital.'
"There's so much more to this story than they're telling us."
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani previously told Newsweek that the charge was odd because of the time between January 6, 2021, and September 2023, when Epps was charged.
"A lot of folks obviously think he's a [government] cooperator because he got charged so late," Rahmani said. "He's clearly pleading. Whenever you're charged with information...it's very, very likely going to be a plea, especially since it's taken so long to charge him because there's some negotiation going on.
"Cooperators usually get that [deal] and plead and wait a long time to be sentenced or charged way later...It is really strange to charge him with this slap-on-the-wrist type case. Either charge him in front or not at all."
Newsweek has reached out to the Department of Justice via email for comment.
Update 1/3/24, 12:58 p.m. ET: This story was updated to say that Fox News has moved to dismiss the defamation lawsuit from Ray Epps.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Benjamin Lynch is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is U.S. politics and national affairs and he ... Read more
