Judge Grants Activist John Sullivan’s Request to Subpoena California Filmmaker for Jan. 6 Trial

Filmmaker Jade Sacker, 25, of Los Angeles, films activist John Sullivan on the Upper Northwest Terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Jayden X/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A federal judge in Washington D.C. has approved Jan. 6 defendant John Earle Sullivan’s request to subpoena a California filmmaker who followed him around the Capitol and was filmed in the Rotunda giving him a hug and telling him, “We did it!”

Mr. Sullivan’s defense attorney on Oct. 5 asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to issue a subpoena to Jade Sacker, 25, of Los Angeles, to appear as a material witness in Mr. Sullivan’s Oct. 23 criminal trial. Judge Lamberth approved the motion a day later and directed his clerk to issue the subpoena.

Mr. Sullivan, 29, of north-central Utah, was charged in a superseding indictment on eight Jan. 6 charges, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, among others.

Jury selection in Mr. Sullivan’s trial will begin Oct. 23, and opening arguments are expected on Oct. 25 in Judge Lamberth’s courtroom.

Mr. Sullivan has been portrayed as a self-described political activist who attended Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and was anti-Trump.

Ms. Sacker, a photojournalist and filmmaker who has worked in Cambodia, Myanmar, northern Syria, the Greek island of Lesbos, and across the United States, accompanied Mr. Sullivan on Jan. 6 to shoot footage for a yet-to-be-released documentary, “A House Divided.”

Mr. Sullivan shot a video of Ms. Sacker embracing him in the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying, “I'll give you your hug now. We did it. You were right. We did it!”

Mr. Sullivan replied: “Dude. I was trying to tell you. I couldn’t say much. ...Is this not going to be the best film you ever made in your life?”

“You aren’t recording, are you?” Ms. Sacker asked.

“I'll delete it,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Known on social media as Jayden X and Activist John, Mr. Sullivan filmed the shooting of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt outside the House Speaker’s Lobby just before 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 6. Standing at a window panel at the entrance doors, Mr. Sullivan captured the service weapon of Capitol Police Capt. Michael Byrd emerging into view as Capt. Byrd aimed at the hallway full of protesters and rioters.

Activist John Earle Sullivan reacts to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt that he filmed outside the Speaker's Lobby at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Sam Montoya/Special to The Epoch Times

“There’s a gun! There’s a gun! There’s a gun!” Mr. Sullivan exclaimed. Journalist Tayler Hansen, who was also filming, then shouted, “He’s got a gun!”

Seconds later, Capt. Byrd lunged toward the north side of the entrance and fired at Ms. Babbitt, who had climbed into the broken-out window frame. She fell back onto the hallway floor, mortally wounded.

As Ms. Sacker filmed Mr. Sullivan in a fast-moving crowd on the Upper Northwest Terrace, he said, “There’s so many people. [Expletive] yeah. I can’t believe this is reality.

“We accomplished this sh*t. We did this sh*t,” he continued, according to his video. “Together. [Expletive] yeah! This is [expletive] history!”

In a January 2022 interview with The Epoch Times, Mr. Sullivan said what might have sounded like encouragement or incitement was him trying to fit in with a crowd that he assumed would otherwise be hostile to him.

“Anything that I might have said was to protect me among a crowd of Trump supporters, white supremacists, and terrorists,” he said. “I am not about to have my black [expletive] lynched by a mob of raging idiots.”

Free, Pending Trial

Mr. Sullivan was arrested by the FBI in Salt Lake City on Jan. 14, 2021. A U.S. magistrate judge in Utah ordered Mr. Sullivan released pending a detention hearing in Washington, D.C.

Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to jail Mr. Sullivan pending trial. On Feb. 16, 2021, Judge Meriweather ordered Mr. Sullivan released on personal recognizance.

According to a January interview in Variety magazine, Ms. Sacker said she first encountered Mr. Sullivan and his brother James on opposite sides of a police barricade at the vice presidential debate at the University of Utah on Oct. 7, 2020

“They were initially surprised that I wanted to make a film about their relationship with a family member who each saw as their own worst enemy,” Ms. Sacker told Variety. “But I told them it would be a fair reflection.

“I wasn’t interested in doing a documentary about political figures,” Ms Sacker said. “I wanted to tell a human story at a time when it’s so easy to dehumanize and vilify people on the other side of a political divide.”

James Sullivan is a conservative activist who has been critical of his brother’s role on Jan. 6. He told The New Yorker that he sent tips about his brother to the FBI in the week after Jan. 6.

Filmmaker Jade Sacker followed John Sullivan on Jan. 6 for a documentary. News Release-Tinygiant/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

The “House Divided” documentary was in post-production in January 2023, according to Variety. A more than 7-minute sizzle reel is posted on the website of production company Tinygiant.

The film is being produced by Get Lifted Film Co., with executive producers including Mike Jackson and musician John Legend. Ms. Sacker’s father, Neil Sacker—a former executive at Miramax and Warner Bros.—is also an executive producer.

“It’s a fascinating inside look at one unique family guided by Jade, who brings an intimate and compassionate lens to this story, a unique quality that defines her directing style,” Mr. Jackson told Variety.

Ms. Sacker was not arrested or charged for her presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. It isn’t clear if the video she shot that day was requested or seized by the FBI.