An FBI agent was not able to give answers on Tuesday as to who Ray Epps is and whether any agents or informants participated in any capacity in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Senator Ted Cruz demanded to know the level of involvement, if any, the agency had in the deadly attack last year and wanted to know more about an ex-Marine accused of being an FBI plant sent to help incite the events last year.
‘How many FBI agents or confidential informants actively participated in the events of January 6th?’ Cruz asked the FBI’s Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch Jill Sanborn during a hearing on domestic violence threats on Tuesday.
‘Sir, I’m sure you can appreciate that I can’t go into the specifics of sources and methods –’ Sanborn began, but was cut off but Cruz reasking the same question.
‘I can’t answer that,’ said Sanborn, who joined the hearing virtually.
‘Did any FBI agents or confidential informants commit crimes of violence on January 6?’ Cruz pushed.
‘I can’t answer that.’
‘Did any FBI agents or FBI informants actively encourage and incite crimes of violence on January 6?’ the Texas Republican senator asked.
Sanborn repeated the same answer for a third time.
Senator Ted Cruz (left) pushed FBI’s Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch Jill Sanborn (right) on Tuesday whether any agents were involved in the January 6 Capitol attack, to which she repeatedly said: ‘I can’t answer that’
He then shifted tactics, asking: ‘Who is Ray Epps?’
‘I’m aware of the individual, sir, I don’t have the specific background on him.’
Cruz then shared images of Epps from January 5, where his suspicious behavior caught the attention of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., causing them to chant, ‘Fed!’
The following day, the day of the riot, Epps can be seen in another clip dressed in military-style clothing and yelling to a crowd: ‘OK folks, spread the word. As soon as the president is done speaking, we go to the Capitol, where our problems are.’
Pointing behind him, he adds: ‘It’s that direction. Please spread the word.’
Cruz also asked about the identity of former Marine Ray Epps (pictured in red hat) and whether he was involved in any alleged FBI incitement of the Capitol riot
Republicans, including Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, claim Epps was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List but was mysteriously removed after right-wing blog Revolver labeled him a ‘Fed-protected provocateur.’
Regarding the testimony on Tuesday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said it had become apparent that the Biden administration is ‘deaf, dumb and blind’ when it comes to national security threats to the U.S.
‘I appreciate their efforts to prosecute those who defiled our Capitol on January 6, and I’m very supportive of such endeavors,’ he wrote in a statement on the hearing. ‘However, this hearing and the answers provided are further examples of the Biden Administration being deaf, dumb and blind to the national security threats we face.’
‘Whether it is the collapse of Afghanistan where the Taliban now reign or a completely broken southern border that could be easily penetrated by international terrorists, the Biden Administration is failing,’ he added.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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