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U.S. seizes $90,000 from man who sold footage of U.S. Capitol riot
Reuters ^ | 5/22/21 | Andy Sullivan

Posted on 05/22/2021 10:04:24 PM PDT by Impala64ssa

Police release tear gas into a crowd of pro-Trump protesters during clashes at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton U.S. authorities have confiscated roughly $90,000 from a Utah man who sold footage of a woman being fatally shot during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, according to court filings.

Prosecutors also have filed additional criminal charges against the man, John Earle Sullivan, a self-described political activist who is accused of entering the Capitol building and participating in the riot, the filings unsealed on Thursday showed. Sullivan now faces a total of eight criminal counts, including weapons charges, related to the riot. Sullivan's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors have charged more than 440 people in connection with the attack in which Trump supporters stormed the Capitol after he gave a speech to them repeating his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

The mob smashed windows, fought police and sent lawmakers into hiding. Five people died. Many participants, including Sullivan, posted their actions on social media. read more According to the court filings, Sullivan portrayed himself as an independent journalist who was reporting on the chaos, but actually encouraged other participants to "burn" the building and engage in violence. Sullivan recorded video of the confrontation between rioters and police just outside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber that included the shooting of protester Ashli Babbitt and, according to court filings, boasted to an unnamed witness that "my footage is worth like a million of dollars, millions of dollars."

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: blm; didyousearch; jan62021; johnearlesullivan; shadenfruede; sullivan
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The usual fake news media exaggerations aside, it's all shyts and giggles hanging with BLM and trying to make a fast buck until the feds come a-knocking. When you lie down with dogs.....
1 posted on 05/22/2021 10:04:24 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
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To: Impala64ssa

John Earle Sullivan was the guy that was hired by MSNBC and CNN I think he was with Antifa


2 posted on 05/22/2021 10:13:04 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: Impala64ssa

Well documented Antifa guy. Urged on the crowd.


3 posted on 05/22/2021 10:19:31 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (GMO opponents who took the covid jab are now GMOs themselves.)
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To: Impala64ssa

4 posted on 05/22/2021 10:21:41 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (GMO opponents who took the covid jab are now GMOs themselves.)
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To: Impala64ssa

These interesting details are per Wikipedia:

Sullivan started attending Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests from June 2020. According to Lex Scott, the founder of Black Lives Matter-Utah, none of the activists knew him before that.

He also has engaged in anti-government commentary, calling for burning down the current political system and replacing it with another system to benefit the people and grant them more freedoms.

Sullivan founded Insurgence USA, a group participating in the protests against police violence. The group’s web site says it was founded “in response to the George Floyd tragedy” to “end police brutality” and “empower and uplifting black and indigenous voices”.

Sullivan organized events in Provo, Utah. In one event, he invited the Proud Boys to speak to the black activists. He also organized another event, a counter-protest to a pro-police event on June 29, 2020, where a Back the Blue protest was held consisting of a number of vehicles driving around the Provo police station.

Sullivan and others organized a counter-protest blocking vehicles. At the protest, shots were fired into a vehicle and one driver was injured. One man, Jesse Taggart, was charged with attempted murder.

According to a police affidavit after the shooting, Sullivan damaged vehicles and cooperated with Insurgence USA to recruit protesters for a protest. Sullivan indicated that he thought the driver who was shot at was trying to run over protesters.

On July 22, 2020, Sullivan held a solo, armed protest at the Utah State Capitol, carrying an AR-15. The protest lasted a couple of hours, during which he was confronted by twenty armed men from Utah Citizens’ Alarm.

Sullivan was treated with suspicion in left-wing activist circles. Labor activist Talia Jane said he is “reviled throughout the activist space”, noting he had been escorted from a December 12 event at Black Lives Matter Plaza after he was identified.

Many suspected him to be a double agent working for law enforcement. An activist from Portland warned people not to trust him, after he got local activists arrested in September 2020 by leading them down a wrong route and into a police kettle.

Anonymous activists from Seattle published a memo in November 2020 accusing him of being an agent provocateur, pointing to his getting activists arrested or exposing their identities.

Activists noted that his brother is a pro-Trump supporter, a supporter of the “Blexit” movement and speaking at a Proud Boys rally. After a man was shot in Provo during the protests in summer 2020, a right-wing militia started appearing to police Sullivan’s group.

During one of his rallies, Sullivan handed the microphone to a Proud Boys member. According to Lex Scott, he told them that his group wanted to work with them, which led to other left-wing activists refusing to work with him. He later got his group firearms training.

As he began carrying assault rifles to protest, this invited hostility from both the right and the left.

Others believe Sullivan exploited the racial justice movement for self-gain. Lex Scott said that Sullivan seemed to have “a death wish” as he thought it would be “cool, or amazing, if he was killed at a protest and it started a revolution”.

She has also denied Sullivan is a member of BLM-Utah and expressed suspicions of his seeking fame, adding he never attended any BLM meetings nor worked alongside them to advance their agenda. The Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke also stated that he had been selling merchandise and indulging in self-promotion on many websites; his Insurgence USA website sells protest-related gear, such as black clothing, gloves, and gas masks, branded “bloc gear collective”.

In Signal chat groups, Sullivan would discuss himself from various sock puppet accounts.

J. Hoberman, a film critic writing in Artforum, reviewed Sullivan’s film Shooting and Storming of the US Capitol in Washington DC, describing it as “cinema as forensic evidence” and comparing it to the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination.

Parts of the footage were used in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol

During the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, Sullivan entered the building with documentary filmmaker Jade Sacker and took extensive video, including video of the shooting of Ashli Babbitt.

Sullivan could be heard saying “Dude, this shit’s gonna go viral” after Babbit’s death. Sacker, a Los Angeles-based independent documentary filmmaker,was filming John Sullivan as part of a documentary on him and his brother, James.

Sullivan later spoke to police and FBI agents about the shooting. His involvement in the riots was cited by pro-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and The Gateway Pundit as part of a false theory alleging antifa’s involvement in the riots.

After the Capitol storming, Sullivan said he is not affiliated with BLM or antifa, nor with the pro-Trump crowd, although he supports Black Lives Matter. When asked about the use of antifa hashtags in his social media posts, he rejected being associated with the group, but has stated that he, along with his group, is anti-fascist.

He also has called himself a citizen journalist. Saying he was at the Capitol storming as a photojournalist, he filmed himself chanting “we about to burn this shit down” and “we accomplished this shit. We did this together. Fuc* yeah! We are all a part of this history”, “We gotta get this shit burned”, and “It’s our house, motherfuc*ers!”

He also used a megaphone and shouted support. He said that he only said and did these things to “blend in” with the pro-Trump mob. His brother, James Sullivan, said that he sent the FBI tips about John Sullivan about a week after the storming.

Federal authorities had not identified Sullivan as anti-fascist and the FBI had announced on January 8 there was no evidence of antifa involvement in the siege. BLM Utah had for months disassociated itself from Sullivan on concerns that he might be associated with the Proud Boys.

On January 13, 2021, an arrest warrant with three counts related to the DC riot was signed by a magistrate judge. The affidavit was based on work by the Counterterrorism Section of the United States Department of Justice National Security Division and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The affidavit stated that Sullivan entered the Capitol’s west side by climbing through a broken window. He later approached another window and a knocking noise was heard, after which it was broken. Sullivan stated, “I broke it. My bad, my apologies. Well they already broke a window, so you know, I didn’t know I hit it that hard. No one got that on camera.” One charge, “40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D)”, is a specific crime of entering or remaining in the House of Congress without authorization. He also offered a knife to the protestors while they tried to break a window.

In the video, he also asks the police to not obstruct the protestors as he doesn’t want any harm to come to them. The arrest document also stated he had made a statement outside the Capitol about “burning this shit down” and “ripping Trump out of office” during a speech he made in August 2020 while pointing to the White House.

Sullivan was arrested in Tooele County, Utah and appeared before a judge on January 15, 2021. Two computers, two cell phones, and camera equipment were seized by the FBI.

He was released with strict pre-trial conditions. An FBI affidavit disputes the claim he was a photojournalist, as he had no press credentials.

He was released as the authorities did not have sufficient proof to keep him in custody, and under the conditions that he keeps a job where he has to work full-time; remaining at home except to go to work, church or court; only being allowed to post to social media to request jobs; not leaving Utah and surrendering his passport to the authorities; will not work anymore with Insurgence USA though still being allowed to handle its financial transactions and tax returns, have a mental health evaluation; will not possess firearms any longer.


5 posted on 05/22/2021 10:27:16 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Impala64ssa

Another fake news lie falls. It was reported that there were no ANTIFA members at the “insurrection”. Everything else that Reuters has said about this event was a lie, so what else is new.


6 posted on 05/22/2021 10:29:20 PM PDT by Richard Axtell ( NO*)
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To: tired&retired

A close up photo would disclose that he fit in well at the BLM riots.


7 posted on 05/22/2021 10:30:08 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Steve Van Doorn

>> John Earle Sullivan was the guy that was hired by MSNBC and CNN I think he was with Antifa

Yes, paid upwards of $10k each.

And let’s not forget.... MSNBC is Comcast. CNN is ATT — two telecom corps heavily invested in the dethroning of DJT — likely related to a China 5G supply chain in my estimation.


8 posted on 05/22/2021 10:33:10 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Uncle Miltie

May God protect Andy Ngo — an amazing journalist.


9 posted on 05/22/2021 10:34:11 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Steve Van Doorn

Political activist = Dem paid thug


10 posted on 05/22/2021 10:36:08 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
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To: Impala64ssa

Fake News like to say “false” about Trump’s claims, but this is a false characterization. Properly, they should say that the claims are controversial.


11 posted on 05/22/2021 10:44:30 PM PDT by eclectic (Liberalism is a mental disorder)
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To: Impala64ssa

Rudy had this guy made months ago. there’s an evil DOJ/FBI agenda here, trying to get control of this guy, maybe to keep him quiet.


12 posted on 05/22/2021 10:51:01 PM PDT by dadfly
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To: Impala64ssa
Don't remember them spending so much effort trying to identify those involved in the Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots.
13 posted on 05/22/2021 10:57:42 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: dadfly

It was easy enough to keep the weasel quiet, they just had the judge cut-off his social media


14 posted on 05/22/2021 11:27:08 PM PDT by freespirit2012
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To: Steve Van Doorn

Yes, he Sullivan was filmed earlier with BLM/Antifa.

We know Antifa was on the scene because they were tweeting about it in the days leading up to it and telling to wear MAGA hats backwards to identify each other. They planned it.

The window breaking reeked of Antifa not of Trump supporters.


15 posted on 05/22/2021 11:41:45 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Hostage

Indeed! A woman can be heard warning of Antifa as a window was being attacked.


16 posted on 05/23/2021 1:40:35 AM PDT by Does so (The Media is the enemy of the people...Trial lawyers close behind...)
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To: Hostage

Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—Antifa!—

Over and over...


17 posted on 05/23/2021 1:42:21 AM PDT by Does so (The Media is the enemy of the people...Trial lawyers close behind...)
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To: Does so

A Trump supporter pulls Antifa away from the window. He, in turn, is pulled from view!


18 posted on 05/23/2021 1:44:51 AM PDT by Does so (The Media is the enemy of the people...Trial lawyers close behind...)
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To: Does so

“Five dead”. One, Ofc. SICKNIK, died the next day from a stroke, more from drug overdoses, one murdered (USAF Ashli Babbit—caught-up in the moment) by Capitol Police!

Media calls Ofc. SICKNIK “slain”.


19 posted on 05/23/2021 1:53:11 AM PDT by Does so (The Media is the enemy of the people...Trial lawyers close behind...)
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To: Uncle Miltie

But he has NOT spent the past 5 months in the DC jail, 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, unable to have private lawyer time.

Even though this Antifa communist was wearing a Trump hat disguise, and whipping up the crowd outside to break into the capitol, and leading them to the fatal door.

He’s a federal stooge. They probably took his money to rap his knuckles and get him back on their leash.


20 posted on 05/23/2021 3:35:43 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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