Ray Epps, in the red Trump hat, center, gestures to a line of law enforcement officers, as people gather on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Ray Epps, who was targeted by right-wing conspiracy theorists after he protested then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge related to his actions on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Epps faced one count of knowingly engaging in “disorderly and disruptive conduct” with the “intent to impede and disrupt” the government’s efforts on Jan. 6, 2021, to confirm President Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump.
Epps, a former member of the right-wing Oath Keepers group, had traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest the 2020 election results. But he has since has been at the center of a false conspiracy theory that the FBI provoked the riot that erupted at the Capitol.
Epps fell under suspicion by others on the right after he was seen on video taken Jan. 5, 2021, showing him on the streets encouraging others to “go into the Capitol.”
Some high-profile conservatives amplified those suspicions, publicly questioning Epps’ actions and wondering why he had not yet been criminally charged in connection with the riot, as more than 1,100 other defendants have.
In July, Epps filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its former opinion host Tucker Carlson over their coverage of him.
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