On January 5, 2021, a day before a mob of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory, a man was filmed encouraging people to go “peacefully” into the Capitol the following day. The video didn’t make much noise at the time, but in the ensuing weeks and months, this person, who many identified as “Ray Epps,” became a central figure in a conspiracy theory claiming that federal agents had provoked the attack on the Capitol, which prompted readers to search for information about him on Snopes.
The attack on the Capitol involved hundreds of Trump supporters who had become enraged by the false claim that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud. This fact — that the crowd was composed of Trump supporters — is evidenced by photographs, videos, news reports, thousands of first-hand social media posts, and testimonies from the rioters themselves. Still, some social media users, cable news hosts, and sitting members of Congress have maintained or speculated that the riot was purposefully sparked by federal agents in order to frame Trump supporters. Epps, they claim, was one of the government agents involved in staging this attack.
So who is Ray Epps? Is he a federal agent? And is there any evidence to support these claims?
Epps is the owner of the Knotty Barn, a wedding and event venue, in Queen Creek, Arizona. According to the Daily Mail, the...
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