Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioter present at Capitol Hill arrested and charged by feds
Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioter present at Capitol Hill arrested and charged by feds
(Natural News) A prominent progressive activist and Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioter who was seen leading people into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 during that day’s civil unrest has been charged by the Department of Justice.
According to the Justice Department, John Earle Sullivan, 26, has been charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one count of interfering with law enforcement who are engaged in the lawful performance of their official duties incident to and during the commission of civil disorder.
Sullivan, who was arrested Thursday, Jan. 14 in his hometown of Provo, Utah, faces jail time if he is convicted.
Sullivan was one of the first people to illegally enter the Capitol
According to a court filing, Sullivan told agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he was at the Capitol during the unrest and was one of the first people to illegally enter the federal building. He said he entered it through a window that had been broken by someone in the crowd and once inside he pushed past several Capitol police officers.
The complaint also alleges that video footage from other people inside the Capitol proves that Sullivan was there and that he was wearing a ballistics vest and a gas mask. Furthermore, he admitted to being present at the scene when Trump supporter and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot by a Capitol police officer.
Sullivan took several videos while he was inside the Capitol. He showed this footage to the federal agents. One of the videos showed him and other people breaking through a barricade. He was caught on the recording saying:
“There are so many people. Let’s go. This [expletive] is ours. [Expletive] yeah. We accomplished this [expletive]. We did this together. [Expletive] yeah. We are all a part of this history. Let’s burn this [expletive] down.”
Other videos from the incident show Sullivan helping others climb over Capitol walls and enter the Capitol through the same broken window he entered through.
“In at least two encounters, Sullivan can be heard on the video arguing with the officers, telling them to stand down so that they do not get hurt,” read the charges. “Among other things, Sullivan can be heard telling officers, ‘You are putting yourself in harm’s way,’ ‘The people have spoken’ and ‘There are too many people, you gotta stand down, the people out there that tried to do that [expletive], they got hurt. I saw it. I’m caring about you.”
As the crowd was trying to enter a different part of the Capitol, Sullivan reportedly told people that he had a knife. He asked them to let him get to the front, supposedly to use the knife to break through. However, he was not able to squeeze his way through the crowd.
In one other video, he was seen attempting to threaten officers guarding the Speaker’s Lobby to go home. “Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt,” he said, insinuating that he or other members of the crowd will hurt the officers if they did not let them pass.
Sullivan identifies as member of Antifa and has extensive criminal record
Sullivan is one of the founders of a left-wing social justice group known as Insurgence USA. The group identifies itself as anti-fascist and is affiliated with both Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Their activities include supposedly protesting incidents of police brutality.
“The lack of care for the human life was unacceptable, so we set out to end police brutality,” read the group’s website. “We then set out to empower and uplifting Black and Indigenous voices.”
Immediately after the events of Jan. 6 at the Capitol, Sullivan spoke to every media outlet that was willing to interview him. (Related: WATCH: CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviews BLM/Antifa leader who was part of Capitol siege, recently arrested for RIOTING, caught on video threatening to beat a woman … Treats him like he was a reporter on the scene.)
He previously told alternative news outlet The Epoch Times that he took steps to blend in with the crowd of President Donald Trump’s supporters so that he would not “get beat up.”
Sullivan has also bragged about being well known in the left-wing activist community as being a member of the far-left, anarcho-communist organization Antifa, although he has denied being a member.
A day after speaking with the media, he was detained by Washington, D.C. police. He claimed at the time that he was only there to document the event. However, he admitted during questioning that he does not have any press credentials. Police investigations also noted that Sullivan has no connection with any journalistic organizations.
His claims of being a journalist were further torn down after federal investigators said that Sullivan’s voice could be frequently heard encouraging the pro-Trump protesters to break the law while they were inside the Capitol.
In fact, FBI agent Matthew Foulger alleged in an affidavit he signed on Wednesday that Sullivan “knowingly and willfully joined a crowd of individuals who forcibly entered the U.S. Capitol and impeded, disrupted and disturbed the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.”
Sullivan is facing charges in Utah County, Utah for organizing a demonstration in Provo last summer during the height of the engineered George Floyd riots. One person was shot and injured during that demonstration.
Sullivan has not responded to requests for comments from several alternative media outlets.
Learn more about the Antifa and Black Lives Matter-organized and led riots occurring all over the country by reading the latest articles at Rioting.news.
Sources include
ANTIFA - Man who shot video of fatal Capitol shooting is arrested, remains focus of political storm
John Earle Sullivan joined the rampage through the Capitol, and some cited his past as evidence of liberal involvement in the siege
The video also landed him in jail. Federal authorities tracking down Capitol trespassers watched Sullivan’s video, interviewed him and then obtained warrants Thursday charging him with causing a civil disorder, trespassing and disorderly conduct. Sullivan repeatedly exhorted rioters to enter the building and overwhelm police, and seemed to convince Capitol Police officers to walk away from the glass door entry to the House Speaker’s Lobby, his video shows. Moments later, with Sullivan screaming warnings about a gun, rioter Ashli Babbitt is shot and killed on the video by a Capitol Police officer.
Sullivan, 26, later claimed he was there to document — not participate — in the event.
His video attracted the attention of right-wing leaders, including President Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said it showed that antifa was the true organizer of the attack; and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who called Sullivan a “BLM & fascist #ANTIFA supporter arrested for role in Capitol assaults.”
But Sullivan is hardly a darling of the left. He began organizing protests in Utah last year, and at one of the first, one of the protesters shot a motorist, said Lex Scott, a racial justice organizer who founded Black Lives Matter Utah more than seven years ago.
“He came in to chase clout and get those media headlines,” Scott said of Sullivan. “Now, it’s not my place to ever tell anyone how to be an activist or what their goals should be … but the fact is that Black Lives Matter Utah has never had one arrest in seven years. We’ve never caused any violence, any destruction of property, and this man comes in here and taints our reputation in a day.”
Activists in Utah have spent months condemning Sullivan, who has at turns identified himself as a racial justice protester and leftist documentarian, and they have warned others to be leery of his motives and any events he sponsored.
“John Sullivan has exploited Black people, profited off of our pain and hurt the movement,” said Tyeise Bellamy, the founder of the Black Lives for Humanity Movement, a Salt Lake City group that works with the homeless. “We’ve been telling people this for months. So now, to see him up there as this poster child for folks to say, ‘Look, look, look, look, it was Black Lives Matter all along, or antifa all along’ — we will not allow you to say he is part of our movement to justify the destruction, insecurity and racism of the right.”
Sullivan, one of four sons of Jack and Lisa Sullivan, grew up in Stafford, Va., about 45 miles from Washington. A friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Sullivan’s personal history, said the boys were adopted and raised in the Mormon faith and had an isolated, conservative upbringing. His brother James is a conservative activist. His parents, who now live in Utah, did not return calls Friday seeking comment.
The boys enjoyed inline skating, and John Sullivan and one of his brothers later switched to the ice and began speedskating. There is a 400-meter speedskating rink in Kearns, Utah, near Salt Lake City, where Olympic-caliber skaters train, and Sullivan moved there to train, then tried to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics. He did not make the U.S. team. He also began driving an Uber, and the company featured him in a blog post and television commercial.
The first time racial justice activists in Utah heard of Sullivan, he was leading marches last year through the streets of Provo — the home city of Brigham Young University — which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, has a Black population of less than 1 percent.
He organized rallies under a group he formed and dubbed Insurgence USA, which activists said Sullivan used to fundraise and solicit donations from individuals who felt compelled to support racial justice movements in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. His website sells “Rise Against the Norm” T-shirts, “Insurgence USA” face masks and other merchandise.
As near-daily protests exploded in cities around the country, Sullivan’s demonstrations attracted large crowds despite his dubious history as an organizer, said Scott, of Black Lives Matter Utah.
He held rallies featuring Black organizers. But attendees said one demonstration also featured members of the Proud Boys, an all-male extremist group with ties to white nationalism. The Proud Boys who attended, organizers said, told the crowd they wished to make peace with Black activists.
In a different demonstration on June 29, Sullivan led crowds through the heavily trafficked streets of Provo. Authorities later said the group did not secure a permit, KSL-TV reported. Cars zipped past, some nearly hitting protesters who marched on the asphalt, said Bellamy, who was there.
As night fell, the crowd began to thin. Just after 8:30 p.m., a large, white SUV sped toward the group, knocking several protesters out of the way. Police said a man fired at the driver, who suffered non-life-threatening wounds and later drove himself to the hospital. The alleged shooter was arrested on charges of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated assault, rioting and threatening the use of a weapon in a fight; Sullivan was charged with rioting. The case is pending.
Black Lives Matter organizers say the fallout stemming from that protest has been broad and far-reaching, sullying the reputation of Black Lives Matter Utah, an organization that had previously held meetings with officials including Sen. Mitt Romney (R), Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R) and Sen. Mike Lee (R) and conducted peaceful marches and vigils throughout the state. Racial justice protests in Salt Lake City, Provo and elsewhere in the state have since been dogged by armed counterdemonstrators who often show up in tactical gear.
Later in the summer, Sullivan helped organize a pro-gun-rights rally and marched with self-styled militia members at the Utah Capitol, KSL-TV reported, further infuriating Black activists.
Sullivan’s reputation as an agitator and bad actor has followed him into other protest circles. In encrypted chats among left-leaning activists, organizers routinely flag posts by Sullivan to new members, saying, “Don’t trust that guy” and, pointing to his past ties with the Proud Boys, “He’s a double agent.”
Sullivan, whose social media alias is Jayden X, visited Washington in December to observe his brother James speak at the Million MAGA march. At one point, Sullivan was surrounded and frisked by Proud Boys who suspected he was antifa, said his friend, who saw the incident. The friend said that episode led him to try to blend in with those around him on Jan 6. “I’m sure that that experience in a large way affected his behavior at the Capitol.”
Let's clear the air so that these right-wing MF, especially @RudyGiuliani and his band of #trumpets, are coming after me, a black man filming at the #uscapitol. I was there to document an event of @realDonaldTrump's so-called #stormthecapitol on Jan 6th. pic.twitter.com/xPC3D4N4Cp
— Jayden X (@realjaydenx) January 10, 2021
Sullivan’s 40-minute video begins with him already on a terrace of the Capitol, looking out at the roiling mob. Then, he follows rioters as they confront police at various points and enter the Capitol, and can be heard shouting, “We accomplished this s---. We did this together. … We are all a part of this history” and “Let’s burn this s--- down.”
Sullivan wanders the halls of the Capitol, always recording, refusing officers’ commands to leave, the video shows. Eventually, he joins a group pressing up against the glass doors to the House Speaker’s Lobby, and implores the officers there to leave for their own safety. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” Sullivan can be heard saying. “We will make a path.” The officers then leave, and seconds later, Babbitt is shot as she tries to climb into the lobby.
Sullivan has called himself a “video journalist,” but admitted to the FBI that he has no connections to any media outlet. Sullivan sold The Washington Post rights to use a portion of his video for a story on the shooting.
As conservative media outlets began pointing to Sullivan as evidence of liberal involvement in the riot, he posted a video on YouTube on Jan. 9 explaining his actions. “I was there just to document the events and to be a part of history,” Sullivan said in the video. He said he was not a member of Black Lives Matter, but did support the Black community.
“I’m not here to assert myself or my beliefs on other people,” Sullivan said. “I just want to give people the footage, the video.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine on Monday, Sullivan explained his seemingly boisterous support of the rioters. He said he needed to blend in, since he was dressed in black with no red hat or MAGA gear. “I was worried about people recognizing me and thinking that I was antifa or, like, BLM or whatever,” Sullivan said. “I had to relate to these people, and build trust in the short amount of time I had there to get where I need to go: To the front of the crowd to see the dynamic between the police and the protesters.”
Sullivan was accompanied for some of his time in the Capitol by Jade Sacker, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who has been making a documentary about Sullivan and his brother James since last year.
Sacker, a freelancer who has worked for publications including Foreign Policy and Atlas Obscura, said that she did not witness the Babbitt shooting and that she had urged Sullivan at one point not to cause any damage.
“I was just there to document what was going on,” said Sacker. “I don’t think that John is violent. And I certainly don’t think that it was ever his intention to hurt anyone.”
Sullivan was taken into custody in Tooele County, Utah, on Thursday after the FBI obtained a warrant for his arrest in Washington. He made his first appearance in federal court in Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon, and was ordered released pending a detention hearing next week. Sullivan’s lawyer, Mary Corporon, said Friday evening that she had no comment. Sullivan did not respond to requests for comment Saturday.
. We’ve also located his speech from another angle that was posted on Rumble:
Sullivan is also the self-described founder of the Insurgence USA group. On their website, they provide a handy little guide on how to be an Anarchist. The guide explains how to disregard previous and predictable strategies, and instead, to use “guerilla tactics to overwhelm your adversary.” Hmmm…that almost sounds like what happened at the White House?
Strangely, when CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed Sullivan, he never mentioned his recent criminal history, his threats of preventing President Trump from serving a second term, including “ripping” him from the White House, or the radical group he founded that supports Anarchy and an armed revolution.
Watch his interview with Anderson Cooper that’s impossible to find anywhere on the internet. It’s almost like CNN doesn’t want anyone to see Anderson Cooper pretending that Sullivan is simply a “left-wing activist” or treating him like was a reporter on the scene who just happened to be standing next to Ashli Babbit when she was shot to death:
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