Of all the distortions and paranoia that Tucker Carlson promoted on his since-canceled Fox News program, one looms large: a conspiracy theory that an Arizona man working as a covert government agent incited the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol to sabotage and discredit former President Donald Trump and his political movement.
What’s known about the man — a two-time Trump voter named Ray Epps — is that he took part in demonstrations in Washington that day and the night before. He was captured on camera urging a crowd to march with him and enter the Capitol. But at other points, he pleads for calm once it becomes clear the situation is turning violent. He can be seen moving past a line of Capitol Police at the barricades, but he never actually goes inside the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors have not charged Epps with a crime, focusing instead on the more than 1,000 other demonstrators who acted violently or were trespassing in the Capitol. The Justice Department’s sprawling investigation into the attack remains open, however, and Epps could still be indicted.
Yet for more than 18 months, Carlson insisted that the lack of charges against Epps could mean only one thing: that he was being protected because he was a secret government agent. There was “no rational explanation,” Carlson told his audience, why this “mysterious figure” who “helped stage-manage the insurrection” had not been charged.
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