"My family hasn't always been on the right side of history," Jan. 6 participant Ray Epps told the Jan. 6 committee.
Ray Epps said he thought the Capitol would be open.
"It shouldn't have been said, but I said it." january6th.house.gov/sites/democrat…
"Arizona, we're pretty — we don't worry about COVID too much."
FBI? No. MPD? No. CIA? NSA? No.
"I saw people crawling all over the Capitol, climbing the walls. It made me kind of ill to my stomach... there was no point in going back. It had gone beyond to what I wanted it to be."
Ray Epps trying to explain his "orchestrated it" text to his nephew.
Side note: this is where the Jan. 6 committee's work can be really valuable. DOJ is restricted from sharing the reason for the prosecutorial decision not to charge Ray Epps, but the transcript does it for them. They'd have trouble differentiating Epps from ~5K other trespassers.
Reasons other J6 outsiders have been charged in 2022: assaulting officers, destroying property, carrying a hammer and climbing on top of a police vehicle.
Epps is tough to differentiate, and his deescalation efforts earn him some sympathy even from jurors who think he's a moron.
"When they hijacked it and it turned the other way, all credibility was lost."
Ray Epps still thought it was antifa, maybe, as of January 2022.
"The only time I've been involved with the government was when I was a Marine in the United States Marine Corps."
"Those grandkids are being picked on at school because of what their granddad did... the leaders that try to — try to ride this thing for gain, for whatever purpose they're doing it... it's saddened me because I — I respected these people."
Ray Epps says that, with regard to Ray Epps, he thinks Trump is "surrounded" by people "trying to push a narrative" and feeding him "real crazy stuff" and yet a lightbulb doesn't seem to go off in his head about [waves arms] ALL OF THIS. Just pull on that thread a bit!
Shorter Ray Epps: Wow I can see how this specific crazy lie has been really poisonous to me, personally, but also maybe antifa was involved on J6 and I still have questions about the 2020 election.
TIRED: wHaT aBoUt RaY eEpS (Sr.)?
WIRED: Wonder when/if they'll get around to arresting Ray Epps Jr.?
An actual offense you could differentiate from other outsiders, involving a (James) Ray Epps (Jr.)!
"helping... some older ladies and stuff."
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