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Before I respond to any specifics I want to lay out a few general suppositions: I think it's totally reasonable, almost necessary, to believe that the FBI had informants in MAGA groups and at J6; J6 prosecutions (even if you think they're legitimate) have a strong political dimension.
I can't read Epps' mind; I don't know how thoroughly the FBI was embedded in J6 attendees; I don't know whether the FBI orchestrated any part of J6 or it's only been weaponized in the aftermath; I don't have and might never have any records that will prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. I do know that some specific people have been caught lying about J6 (the J6 Committee, government reports of officers killed, Nancy Pelosi's bodyguard, etc.).
Let's concede that it's entirely possible Epps could really be innocent. We're all just filling in blanks here. But for the reasons already discussed, I do not find Epps' total innocence very likely.
Onto some of your specific points:
Jones is not known to have been near the Capitol at all: he was speaking from Lafayette Square. This is in a different category from Epps, who was present at the Capitol and encouraging people to go in (while pointedly not going in himself). I don't think this is an apples-to-apples comparison.
The lack of charges for Fuentes are taken as suspicious by many people. It's openly discussed whether he was a Fed. I have not bothered looking into the accusations, there are a lot of arguments floating around. My supposition is that he's been a party to so many shenanigans by this point that the Feds would be stupid if they haven't at least tried to recruit him. He could also be genuinely that dumb.
In part because he was near the top of the FBI's J6 List until he wasn't. In part because he's a highly-visible face saying everything lefties have accused J6 of representing. He was an Oath Keepers chapter president. He he was on restricted Capitol Grounds. He fits the exact profile of people who have been otherwise severely charged.
Granted that Epps is not an Alex Jones, or Enrique Tarrio, or someone who otherwise might have been presumed to be a leader within MAGA before the J6 events. But that's not the only qualification. Epps is perhaps the most visible face of protesters agitating to enter the Capitol, the very proof that J6 was part of serious sedition, and all he gets is a slap on the wrist.
Yes? I don't disagree, but don't know how that's relevant to whether Epps was treated with unusual leniency.
Innocent of what? He already plead guilty.
That's totally fair that you don't think Alex Jones is a good comparison, so who would you propose comparing against? You can't say that someone was treated "unusually" unless you already have a comparison in mind, so who are you comparing Epps against?
I don't know what you mean by "near the top" except that he was one of the first to be put on the 'seeking information' list. Chronology does not determine severity, so why is this significant? What does it mean to have a highly-visible face? People know who he is because he received significant right-wing media attention, so is that your metric? What are lefties claiming J6 represents and how does Epps represent it? It's true that he used to be an Oath Keeper chapter president in 2011, why is that significant? It's true that he was on restricted Capitol Grounds, but so were up to 10,000 other people, so why is that significant? What exactly is the "exact profile" of people who were charged? Did you determine this profile by examining all 1,265 J6 defendants? Are you claiming that prosecutions are decided by looking for this profile? This is an extremely confusing paragraph.
You concede that Epps would not be presumed to be a leader of any kind and I just want to understand how you contrasted his situation to determine that he was treated unusually. I again repeat that a really good starting point would be for you to pick one comparable J6 defendant that you think was treated much more harshly than Epps.
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