DOJ Preparing for Ray Epps “Disclosure”

The Justice Department is preparing a “disclosure” related to Ray Epps, a man some suspect was an FBI informant goading the crowd ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot despite his denials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin revealed the plan in court Tuesday as lawyers for some Jan. 6 defendants demand more details about Epps.

“What I can … tell the court is that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been working on a disclosure pertaining to Mr. Epps,” Rochlin said, according to Politico. The federal prosecutor also said the information would be ready to share with defense lawyers who ask for it in, “give or take, another week or two,” and stressed that the plan does not imply agreement by prosecutors that any informants were “fomenting rebellion” on Jan. 6 as suggested by some of the defandants’ lawyers, the report added.

Epps, an Arizona man and former Oath Keeper, had been on the FBI’s Capitol Violence most wanted list before he was removed without explanation after nearly six months. He was seen on video urging people to march to the Capitol in the hours leading up to the riot, fueling speculation.

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The House committee investigating the Capitol riot released a statement in January that said its investigators interviewed Epps.

“The Select Committee is aware of unsupported claims that Ray Epps was an FBI informant based on the fact that he was on the FBI Wanted list and then was removed from that list without being charged,” the panel said in a statement. “The Select Committee has interviewed Mr. Epps. Mr. Epps informed us that he was not employed by, working with, or acting at the direction of any law enforcement agency on January 5th or 6th or at any other time, and that he has never been an informant for the FBI or any other law enforcement agency.”

An attorney for Epps, John Blischak, declined to comment on the disclosure but did tell Politico, “Mr. Epps provided a full disclosure to the House committee.”

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republican members on the Jan. 6 committee, tweeted that Epps was taken off the list “because apparently he broke no laws.” He also said Epps “has cooperated and is nothing but a Jan 6 protest attendee, in his own words.”

An attorney for Paul Russell Johnson, a Jan. 6 defendant accused of assaulting police at the Capitol, claimed that Epps could help their case. “Our argument is that James Ray Epps was involved in the attack on the Capitol in a way that would be beneficial to our defense,” said the attorney, Kobie Flowers, during a status conference Tuesday, according to Law & Crime.

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With the Justice Department up until now staying tight-lipped about Epps, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Republican lawmakers, and former President Donald Trump have fanned the flames of unproven theories involving him.

“How about the one guy, ‘Go in, go in, get in there, everybody,’ Epps. ‘Get in there, go, go.’ Nothing happens to him. What happened with him? Nothing happened,” Trump said at an Arizona rally in January.