The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday said that Marine Corps veteran Ray Epps, who can be seen on video encouraging people to enter the Capitol, was not connected to the FBI, as online theories and some GOP lawmakers have hinted.
''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,'' a spokesperson for the House investigative panel said in a statement, according to CNBC.
''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,'' the spokesperson said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asked about Epps on Tuesday in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on domestic terror threats.
''According to public records, Mr. Epps has not been charged with anything. No one's explained why a person videoed urging people to go to the Capitol, a person whose conduct was so suspect the crowd believed he was a [federal informant], would magically disappear from the list of people the FBI was looking at,'' Cruz said.
''A lot of Americans are concerned that the federal government deliberately encouraged illegal and violent conduct on Jan. 6,'' Cruz added.
He asked two Department of Justice officials if federal agents ''actively encourage[d] violent and criminal conduct'' on that day.
''Not to my knowledge, sir,'' FBI national security official Jill Sanborn replied.
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