Bobby Powell, the former Michigan radio journalist and podcaster who went public with video evidence he said showed federal agents attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, is recovering in a Florida hospital after suffering his fourth heart attack in two years.
Powell, 58, was undergoing a cardiac stress test when he suffered a “massive” heart attack, his fiancé Cherie posted on Truth Social. He underwent emergency surgery to treat blockages to his heart and is expected to have a permanent defibrillator implanted in the near future.
“This is number four since J6, five total in the last three years,” Powell told The Epoch Times in an email from his hospital room. “And it’s the last one I will survive.”
Powell said both atria of his heart were badly damaged by the attack. He has to wear a defibrillator jacket until the permanent defibrillator is implanted.
While Powell was picking up the glass minutes later, a man dressed in dark tactical clothing approached him and asked why he didn’t open up the rest of the window. “Because I think that would probably be illegal,” Powell replied.
When Powell spun around with his camera, he caught the man as he pulled out a large section of the tempered glass and dropped it on the ground.
Minutes later, when Powell was approaching the entrance to the giant Columbus Doors, another man dressed in tactical clothing placed a hand on his back and shoved him into the foyer. That man was holding open one of the doors with a heavy wooden rod.
Powell has spent nearly two years trying to get attention for his video and a serious look from news media at possible federal involvement in the Capitol violence.
He said the FBI did not return repeated calls. Powell put his high-resolution video on thumb drives and traveled around the country trying to get public officials—including prosecutors, judges, and public defenders—to take notice.
It has been a tough sell. In fact, the pushback has been severe.
Powell said his podcast was demonetized on social media. The payment processor he used to accept donations canceled his account. His family doctor discharged him as a patient after Jan. 6, he said.
Powell said a Republican official in Michigan offered him $200,000 to destroy the video and stop calling attention to it. When he refused, he said, the man made an implied assassination threat. Powell sold his Michigan home, bought a recreational vehicle, and moved to Florida.
Powell attended a protest in support of Oath Keepers member Jeremy Brown outside the Pinellas County Jail. A man arrested running away from the protest had pipe-bomb-making materials in his backpack.
Although the suspect was later released and police claimed the materials were not explosives, Powell believes the pipe bombs were meant for him when he spoke at the rally.
The efforts to call out possible government involvement in January 6 has had a “huge” deleterious effect on his heart, Powell said.
“No sleep, working 16–18 hours a day, seven days a week,” Powell said. “getting nowhere for 23 months aside from Epoch Times. Total frustration.”
