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I really appreciate your reply; you presented links to substantiate your claims and also argued with transparency. It's commendable.
I acknowledge some informants were in the crowd, likely on their own accord but it's possible that wasn't exclusively so. Assuming arguendo some informants were at J6 to "push things along" (use whatever wording you like), the glaring gap is how none of these efforts have been uncovered beyond just speculation.
I fully agree with you that the FBI has a documented track record of instigating crimes for purposes of making arrests, I said the exact same thing when I discounted the Whitmer kidnapping plot back when the news came out. When a conspiracy plot is hatched largely behind closed doors, it's perfectly reasonable to be very skeptical of FBI claims. Less so when it's enacted out in the open in an unambiguous manner. Several of the kidnapping plot defendants were rightfully acquitted because they presented compelling evidence of entrapment, which couldn't have happened without the defense attorneys investigating the informants, forcing the FBI to admit using them.
So as applied to J6, we don't have to rely on the FBI's skewed version of events because we can see people actually storming the Capitol on video. And we've had 1,265 defendants so far, almost all of whom would be represented by stellar defense attorneys (unlike their state/county counterparts, federal public defenders have a well-earned reputation at the top) so how come not a single defendant argued entrapment? It's not plausible that every single one of these lawyers somehow decided to sit on their ass and ignore the most obvious defense, unless you accept the conclusion that no informants were involved in entrapment on J6. You're welcome to tell me if there's anything wrong with this reasoning.
Regarding Ray Epps's conduct, the fact that some J6 protestors believed he was a fed is not relevant evidence. Baked Alaska, the same guy who starting chanting "Fed! Fed!" at Epps on January 5th still livestreamed himself walking into the Capitol the next day, which eventually landed him with a 60 day jail sentence. This is demonstrably not someone whose judgment merits relying upon.
If you're curious about Ray Epps's mindset that day, you can read what his defense attorney put in his sentencing memo starting on pg 4. Epps claimed he thought the Capitol would be open on J6, didn't start realizing otherwise until he saw the barricades and scuffles, and was too far forward in the crowd to find an opportunity to turn back. Obviously you don't have to accept his version of events, but it all seems like a plausible and likely explanation to me. Tourists can barely identify DC monuments, let alone intimately know their open hours so that part makes sense. Revolver News included video showing Epps in front of a row of police trying to calm people down so that also makes sense. As does his inability to leave because of a crowd of 10,000 behind him, because I've been to a music festival before. I'm not aware of what evidence contradicts his version of events.
Regarding your reference to a phone call he made later, you're probably referring to the text message he sent his nephew on J6 saying "I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it." I agree this could be incriminating, but "orchestrated" what? When questioned about this text (pg 63) he said he meant "orchestrated" helping people get to the front and remain peaceful, and also claimed he wasn't aware how violent it got at the time he sent the text. I personally don't fully buy his explanation, and think the more likely element is he's an old boomer who wanted to brag to his nephew.
First of all, sorry for taking so long to reply - I only post during working hours to make sure that I keep the culture war and getting mad at the internet portion of my day well contained. Thank you for the compliments!
As the person endorsing a conspiracy theory, I'd just like to clarify that I do not believe the "feds" started the protest. I think they went out of their way to make it easy for people to commit crimes without realising it, by being heavily involved in the leadership of the protest as well as by surreptitiously removing barricades and barriers in such a way that people would commit crimes without realising it. So far (to my knowledge) there hasn't been any footage that contradicts this claim. I think there would have been a protest, but I don't think it would have gotten as far as it did, nor would nearly as many crimes have been committed, without some federal encouragement/assistance.
Did you go through every single case? I don't see a source stating that you've gone through all the J6 prosecutions and identified the defences being used in each one. If you've actually got a good source explaining every single case I'd love to give it a look. That said, I imagine that any case involving active federal informants or CHSes would be kept sealed or private in order to prevent that information from being released and leaving them utterly useless, and some people would simply receive extremely good plea deals if their defence would actually expose an informant or source. It feels slightly dishonest to say "All of my evidence is in the box marked 'this box cannot be opened except by federal agents'" but c'est la vie.
I agree! It was actually his actions that I was referring to in that video as evidence, rather than the namecalling.
I'm actually familiar with Baked Alaska, the moron who livestreamed himself committing several crimes, was responsible for getting a lot of people identified with his footage, and who said "if I didn't turn into an informant I'd get a felony charge" before getting an incredibly sweet plea deal (which he then went and fucked up!). Baked Alaska is a very odd figure and connected with a lot of the more odd-looking parts of the internet right (Nick Fuentes), but he is also effectively a confirmed government informant - so if you were wondering what it would look like for one of them to get charged, his case is right there.
I can't find this explanation viable or realistic at all given the actual footage of him and what he did when he reached the barriers. It also completely fails to explain why he was so insistent on breaking into the capitol building everywhere he went and spoke to people - I can't square the mindset he's claiming and the actions he took at all. Hell, even when reading the statements put out by his legal team...
So he gets to the barricade, has a chat with the guy who then goes and takes down the barriers. Then he "followed behind and again through a second set of barriers"? How exactly do you decide to turn around and leave, then end up breaking through security barriers in the opposite direction?
Thanks for finding that one! I also don't believe his stated explanation, albeit for different reasons.
Ultimately, I'm utterly unconvinced by the argument being made by the government/his defence here. There's no good explanation for his bizarre insistence on breaking into the capitol building or for his actions in furtherance of that goal, nor for his incredibly lenient treatment when compared to a lot of the other J6 protestors. Maybe I'm just outing myself as a midwit, but I think that the case made by the two revolver articles was substantially stronger than the one made by Epps' defenders. Though with all that said I don't believe there's enough publicly available evidence to firmly settle the matter one way or another.
In case you're interested, I had a 3-hour conversation about this topic in the latest episode of the Bailey which covers a lot of the points you raise.
I find these claims very odd to parse because they're so at odds with what I've seen. I'm aware of the footage of cops removing barricades outside, but that footage was filmed behind the officers so it seems obvious they were already surrounded at that point. There's also this synced footage of the enormous amount of effort police took to stop protestors from coming inside the tunnel. It's baffling to me how anyone present could have believed they were invited in.
No, I did not examine every single one of the 1,265 cases. I'm stating that I am not aware of any J6 cases that did try to use entrapment as a defense. If you want to claim that this information is ultimately unknowable, I would be curious to know why it didn't apply to the Whitmer kidnapping cases where the entrapment defense was successfully deployed.
Sorry again for the late reply, but I'll give this a listen tonight. I don't think there's much point continuing the conversation until I have gotten through that three hours.
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