Top federal law enforcement officials have declined to answer numerous questions about Ray Epps, the Arizona resident captured on video encouraging Jan. 6, 2021, protesters to breach Capitol Hill.
But at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier that day, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) were unsuccessful in obtaining answers about Epps.
Sanborn admitted that she is aware of Epps, but said she doesn’t have “specific background for him.”
When Cruz asked whether Epps worked with the FBI, Sanborn declined to answer—likewise for when Cruz asked about whether federal informants participated in the riots, encouraged the riots, or removed barriers.
“I cannot answer that,” Sanborn responded to each query.
“Five seconds after Mr. Epps whispered to a person, that same person began forcibly tearing down the barricades. Did Mr. Epps urge them to tear down the barricades?” Cruz asked.
“Similar to the other answers, I cannot answer that,” Sanborn replied.
Cotton asked a similar line of questions to Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of DOJ’s national security branch.
Olsen said he wasn’t aware of any plainclothes officers among the Jan. 6 crowd, and that he didn’t know whether any undercover agents entered the Capitol.
“Your answers are all ‘I don’t know,’” Cotton said. “Did you prepare for this hearing? Did you know it was happening before this morning?”
Olsen also said he didn’t have any information about Epps.
“This was a man on the most-wanted page for six months. Do you really expect us to believe that you don’t know anything about him?” Cotton asked.
“I simply don’t have any information at all,” Olsen responded.
When pressed further, Olsen said he couldn’t say how many rioters were arrested for crimes related to violence, or name a single person from the government’s list of most-wanted Capitol Hill rioters. This provoked further criticism from the Arkansas senator.
“This is a hearing to mark the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, and you can’t even tell us how many people have been charged with crimes of violence. Would you go into a briefing with the attorney general and not be able to answer such basic questions?” Cotton asked.
“I guess we’re going to have to seek our answers elsewhere. This was not a stellar performance.”
Durbin said he never heard of Epps before Jan. 11.
Epps couldn’t be reached for comment. His address is listed on public court records—Jan. 6 defendant Kelly Meggs has issued a subpoena for him to testify—but a number connected to that address appears to have been disconnected. Epps also had a number listed on the page for the Arizona Oath Keepers, but a call to that line went straight to Epps’s voicemail, which was full.
Following the hearing, right-wing pundits took to Twitter to congratulate Cruz and Cotton for their questions. Cruz had been denounced by Fox News host Tucker Carlson a week earlier for referring to the Capitol Hill riots as “domestic terrorism.”
The Jan. 6 Committee issued the following statement shortly after the hearing: “Committee is aware of unsupported claims that Ray Epps was an FBI informant based on the fact that he was on the FBI Wanted list and then was removed from that list without being charged.
“The Select Committee has interviewed Mr. Epps. Mr. Epps informed us that he was not employed by, working with, or acting at the direction of any law enforcement agency.”
