- Ray Epps, a Marine veteran, was seen in video urging a group of Trump supporters in Washington DC to ‘go into the Capitol’ on January 5 and 6
- DailyMail.com located Epps, 60, who is at the center of a conspiracy theory alleging he was an FBI plant sent to help incite the deadly riot
- Epps is the former president of the largest chapter of the far-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers
- His alleged involvement in the deadly insurrection was highlighted in the DOJ’s House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing in October
- U.S Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) showed video clips of Epps repeatedly encouraging protestors on the streets of DC to ‘go into’ the Capitol
- Epps was seen addressing supporters on the street on January 5 saying: ‘I’m probably going to go to jail for it, OK? Tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol’
- There is no evidence that Epps, a sergeant in the military, ever entered the building himself and he was never arrested in connection to the siege
Driving a golf cart around his small and immaculate desert ranch, Ray Epps appears a man in his element.
Cattle graze contentedly as he makes his rounds of the property he’s transformed into a thriving wedding venue business, focusing on the location’s rustic charm.
However, the tranquil scene just outside Phoenix, Arizona, could not be in starker contrast to one in which he is also associated – the storming of the Capitol Building on January 6.
Because not only is Epps, 60, a genial host of rural weddings, he’s also the former president of the largest chapter of far-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers and was seen in video urging supporters to ‘go into the Capitol’ on the day of the deadly insurrection.
He was also spotted in footage at the first barrier to fall to rioters as it was breached at 12:50pm.
And he was named Suspect 16 when the FBI published images in its Capitol Violence Most Wanted list of people to identify two days after the insurrection, which claimed five lives.
However, a dramatic twist has now seen him accused of an altogether different, an unproven, allegiance – that of FBI plant.
Suspicion has fallen on him from some right-wing quarters speculating a fringe theory that he was sent out to help incite the riot on behalf of the federal government.
Some on the far right hypothesize that the motive was to frame Trump supporters as domestic terrorists.
There is no evidence that Epps, who was a sergeant in the military, ever entered the building himself on that fateful day and he was never arrested in connection with the storming.
DailyMail.com located the veteran at his Rocking R Farms wedding and hospitality business, which he runs with wife Robyn, 63.
When we arrived at the property in Queen Creek, 30 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix, to give him an opportunity to confront the extreme speculation, he bluntly refused to discuss it.
He told us: ‘Get off my property’. As we endeavored to further explain, he repeated: ‘Get off my property.’