’60 Minutes’ failed attempt to make Ray Epps a victim of ‘obsessed’ Tucker is beyond laughable

Alleged Capitol breach instigator Ray Epps issued some severe claims against a particular Fox News host whom he considers “obsessed” with him and determined to “destroy” his life.

(Video: CBS)

Perhaps taking a page out of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s book on using the spotlight to demand privacy, Epps appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday where he was portrayed as every bit the victim. Only days after Fox News reached a settlement in the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting System, severe allegations were being launched at the network, and specifically primetime host Tucker Carlson.

“He’s obsessed with me. He’s going to any means possible to destroy my life and our lives,” Epps told correspondent Bill Whitaker with his wife, Robyn Epps, beside him.

Framing video of Epps seen on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021 appearing to incite crowds to storm the Capitol as “conspiracy theory,” the narrative began with the question “What do you think when you see this now?”

“Brings back some bad memories. It’s hard to see our Capitol under attack,” he replied without directly addressing his own alleged involvement.

Whitaker framed, “It’s been more than two years since the storming of the Capitol, but Ray and his wife Robyn told us they relive January 6th every day of their lives.”

After contending the heat against them won’t “die down,” a claim that included reportedly having to sell their home in Arizona and move, a series of clips were played from Fox News as well as featuring Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas).

“What exactly was the role of Ray Epps in the chaos of January 6th?” Carlson asked before Darren Beattie of Revolver News could be heard suggesting “He is the smoking gun of the entire Fed-surrection.”

As Whitaker summed up, “The theory Epps, a former member of the Oath Keepers, was an FBI informant who incited the crowd on January 6th bubbled up from a right-wing news site called Revolver News — run by a former Trump speechwriter…and landed on Fox News primetime…The convoluted conspiracy theory made its way to Capitol Hill.”

In March, Carlson had aired snippets of the roughly 44,000 hours of footage that had previously gone unseen by the public, and failed to dispel suggestions made about Epps’ involvement. The video prompted the host to state, “For more than two years we have wondered why some in the crowd that day who seem to be inciting violence were never indicted for it. We assumed these were federal agents of some sort. We still assume that.”

Reacting to the reports, Michael Teter, an attorney representing Epps, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fox News, seeking a “formal on-air apology,” that read in part, “The fanciful notions that Mr. Carlson advances on his show regarding Mr. Epps’s involvement in the January 6th insurrection are demonstrably (and already proven to be) false. And yet, Mr. Carlson persists with his assault on the truth.”

When asked by Whitaker, “Why?” regarding Carlson’s supposed obsession, Epps insisted, “To shift blame on somebody else. If you look at it, Fox News, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, Gaetz, they’re all tellin’ us before this thing that it was stolen. So you tell me, who has more impact on people, them or me?”

While it remained to be seen what, if any, response Tucker Carlson would have for the “60 Minutes” smear, Rep. Massie reacted to a clip, tweeting, “Ray Epps is the only person I’ve seen on video January 5th and January 6th urging and directing people to go into the Capitol. In a text message on January 6th he bragged that he orchestrated it. Why do democrats and the media portray him as the victim? So bizarre.”

Kevin Haggerty

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