Ray Epps, an Arizona Trump supporter, flew to Washington, D.C. in January 2021 to support the former president. A move he says has tormented him since, according to the New York Times.
Mr. Epps was one of the thousands of MAGA supporters who accepted former President Donald Trump’s falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen. He also expected him and a swarm of conservative friends to dispute the election’s certification.
Who Is Donald Trump’s Supporter Ray Epps?
Ray Epps, 61, is a retired Marine who owns and operates a wedding and event site in Queen Creek, Arizona. He considers himself a fervent Republican and was an outspoken admirer of former President Donald Trump(Axios).
According to Politico, Mr. Epps is a former member of the Oath Keepers, a militant right-wing gang whose members are currently being investigated on seditious conspiracy charges.
Mr. Epps traveled to Washington, DC, convinced that the 2020 election had been rigged. Following the Jan. 6 riot, Epps became the focus of an unproven conspiracy theory that identified him as a clandestine FBI agent who helped fuel the attack.
His narrative demonstrates how rapidly conspiracy theories can spread and how devastating their long-term consequences may be.
Right-wing media groups refocused their attempts to redefine their narrative around Mr. Epps after failing to put the Capitol brawl on Antifa.
New York Times reported, that obscure right-wing sources such as Revolver Media began reporting on selectively edited films of Mr. Epps during the Capitol disturbance. They subsequently capitalized on footage from 5 January in which he urged people to invade the Capitol.
The theory claims that Mr. Epps was not detained in the aftermath of the Capitol disturbance despite evidently inciting others to enter the building and participating in the event himself. He could only have gotten away with it if he was working with the government.
To explain this seeming discrepancy, reporters and conspiracy theorists concluded that Mr. Epps was an FBI agent. They believed he was dispatched into the crowd to incite discontent and set up a “false flag” event to justify the arrest of hundreds of Trump supporters.
Ray Epps Is One Of Jan 6 Conspiracy Theory Victims
Ray Epps became a prominent victim of the illogical theory promoted by right-wing media sources and Republican politicians. Epps subsequently received death threats that drove him to leave his house and sell his business.
“And what for lies?” In a daylong interview from an unknown location in the Rocky Mountains, Epps, 61, told the Times.
“It’s just been awful,” Epps stated during the interview with New York Times.
As per Times, following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Trump and his allies wrongly accused a variety of players of the violence that erupted that day. Antifa and the FBI eventually rose to the focus of many of the stories.
Trump supporters promoted the erroneous claim that the FBI orchestrated the Capitol attack to punish conservatives.
What actually happened was, “Mr. Epps discovered days after the Capitol disturbance that the FBI was looking into him as a person of interest in its inquiry into the riot.”
He phoned the agency right afterward and promised to call them to explain what had transpired.
During their conversation, Mr. Epps insisted on remaining nonviolent and instructing other rioters to do the same.
The video footage that was later manipulated and used to indicate Mr. Epps was encouraging violence really showed him attempting to calm down other demonstrators who were becoming agitated.
In one video, he encourages another protester, Ryan Samsel, to calm down and reminds him that the Capitol police were just doing their duties.
Furthermore, Mr. Epps was able to demonstrate that he had departed the Capitol before the violence erupted. Mr. Epps volunteered to assist in leading a demonstrator who had been unwell away from the pandemonium.
Ray Epps And His Wife Are Seeking Lawyer
New York Times reported that Epps and his wife are looking for a lawyer to assist them in filing a defamation action against several of the people who spread the false narrative.
“The truth must be revealed,” he stated(Independent.co).
Epps departed Arizona as a consequence of the threats, leaving behind his mobile home and settling in a trailer park in the Rocky Mountains.
He now keeps a low profile, wearing a wide-brimmed hat when he goes out, but he is well aware that his association with the conspiracy idea will endure for a long time.
“They’ll be connected forever,” Epps told the Times.
“Some people are impossible to persuade. There are radicals out there who will never be convinced that they are incorrect.”