DOJ Charges BLM Supporter Who Allegedly Stormed Capitol, Instigated Trump Supporters
A Black Lives Matter-supporting activist already facing several charges for his actions on Jan. 6 is now facing additional counts and allegedly told witnesses that he brought a bullhorn to instigate Trump supporters to attack the Capitol.
John Earle Sullivan of Utah has now been hit with weapons charges, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors last week and reported by The Epoch Times.
Whether or not you’ve heard Sullivan’s name before, you’ve probably seen the footage he captured of pro-Trump activist Ashli Babbit’s shooting death during the Capitol incursion, which he reportedly sold to news networks for tens of thousands of dollars.
Prosecutors say he was captured on another individual’s recording “expressing excitement” that he had Babbit’s death on camera.
“Everybody’s gonna want this. Nobody has it. I’m selling it, I could make millions of dollars,” Sullivan was quoted as saying.
Last week, authorities seized $90,000 from Sullivan that he reportedly had been paid by major news outlets for the Babbit footage.
According to the court documents, he also allegedly was heard telling someone on speakerphone, “I brought my megaphone to instigate s***. I was like, guys we’re going inside, we’re f***ing s*** up. … I’m gonna make these Trump supporters f*** all this s*** up. … But I mean you’ll see. I have it all, I have everything, everything on camera, everything I just told you, and I mean everything. Trust me when I say my footage is worth like a million of dollars, millions of dollars. I’m holding on to that s***.”
“Hey guys, I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up,” he was also heard saying, according to prosecutors, as well as telling Capitol Hill police officers that “there are too many people, you gotta stand down.”
While Sullivan styled himself as a journalist on the scene who had entered the Capitol with the sole intention of filming the chaos, an affidavit from when he was initially charged for his involvement in the incursion says he broke a window and encouraged protesters to enter.
“Sullivan approaches a window, also seen in the screenshot below, and states, ‘We did this s***. We took this s***.’ While at the window, a knocking noise is heard off-screen. The camera then pans to show more of the window and a broken pane can be seen that was not broken on Sullivan’s approach to the window: Sullivan can then be heard saying, ‘I broke it. My bad, my apologies. Well, they already broke a window, so, you know, I didn’t know I hit it that hard. No one got that on camera.’ Sullivan then exits the office,” the affidavit stated.
Sullivan had been in several far-left riots prior to Jan. 6, The Epoch Times noted.
Or, as prosecutors say he put it at the scene of the Capitol Hill incursion, “I am ready, bro. I’ve been to too many riots. I’ve been in so many riots.”
Indeed he had, it turns out, and he was even charged in July with rioting charges, threatening violence and criminal mischief. Why? Well, as it happens, he had taken part in an anti-police counterdemonstration to a “Back the Blue” event in Provo, Utah.
That’s right — he showed up where he knew supporters of an ideology opposing to his own would be holding a public demonstration of sorts, and actively engaged in trying to prevent it. Oh, and he also witnessed a shooting at that protest as well, weirdly enough.
According to a police affidavit from July, “As a protest organizer, John Sullivan is heard talking about seeing the shooting, looking at the gun, and seeing smoke coming from it. John did not condemn the attempted murder nor attempt to stop it nor [aid] in its investigation by police.”
The #DOJ filed new charges against reported #BlackLivesMatter activist John Sullivan for his role in the US Capitol breach, saying that Sullivan allegedly told others later that he brought along a megaphone to incite #Riots inside the building. https://t.co/Ei5ScAitYi
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) May 24, 2021
Who honestly believes this guy showed up in Washington on Jan. 6 to innocently document a pro-Trump rally with absolutely no intention of causing violence?
He appears to be a legitimate — we could even say run-of-the-mill — postmillennial far-left agitator, like many of the black-clad swarms we have seen senselessly raging through the streets, brawling with Trump supporters and members of law enforcement alike, deliberately, as these are their tactics.
Is anyone really going to play so dumb as to claim there were no far-left protesters involved in the mayhem on Capitol Hill, given that they knew exactly what they’d be causing if they were?
Based on the prosecutors’ accounts, Sullivan clearly knew what he was doing and why he was doing it.
The left-wing establishment continues to insist there were no left-wing activists on Capitol Hill that fateful day — just a bunch of Republican-voting, MAGA-hat sporting, Bible-thumping white, far-right Christian QAnon nuts who are generally responsible for all that is bad, hateful and intolerant and who form the brunt of a new, terrifying extremist movement that has the entire nation living in constant fear.
Any intellectually honest person should be able to look at the state of our country and easily conclude that violence is by no means restricted to one side of the political spectrum.
The Capitol incursion was a rare incident of large-scale violence perpetrated by those on the right, and it came right after a very long, expensive, fiery and downright deadly summer of left-wing violence.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realize that people who believe in anarchy and violence might want to inspire enraged Trump supporters to barge into and attack the U.S. Capitol.
Sensible human beings everywhere should be able to put it together that if Sullivan was there and did what he’s accused of doing, there might have been others who were far from pro-Trumpers but were simply interested in causing chaos and violence, as that is the MO of the modern leftist agitator.
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