JUST IN: Lawyer for Ray Epps has demanded a retraction and a formal on-air apology from Tucker Carlson for his "false and defamatory statements

Sorry you empty hat limo golf cart traitor, we got you dead to rights, on camera.

The name “Epps” has appeared in closed-captioning on Fox News more than 160 times in the past two years, suggesting that the name has been mentioned on air at least that often. That’s more than two-thirds of the total mentions of Epps’s name on the top three cable news channels.

At least half of all of the mentions of Epps on those three channels have been on Tucker Carlson’s prime-time Fox News program. If you are familiar with the name Epps at all, you probably know why it’s Carlson who has mentioned him the most.

Ever since the right-wing website Revolver News first suggested in October 2021 that a man named Ray Epps might have been a federal agent tasked with ginning up violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 of that year, Carlson has been the central figure in propagating the theory. That the theory was debunked by early 2022 has not dissuaded Carlson. Earlier this month, in fact, Carlson overhauled his claims about Epps and presented them, once again, to his audience.

The evidence touted by Revolver and Carlson was always circumstantial at best and often simply ridiculous. It centers on two key moments in the hours before the riot began.

In the first, Epps, a veteran and former member of the Oath Keepers, was seen speaking with an interviewer in the midst of a crowd on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021. He told the interviewer that while he was “probably going to go to jail” for saying it, “tomorrow, we need to go into the Capitol. Into the Capitol.” Then, he added: “Peacefully.”

The crowd around him began to chant, “Fed! Fed!” — suggesting that Epps was a federal agent trying to entice them into violent action.

The second key moment was on Jan. 6 itself. Epps is shown on video near a bike rack that was one of the first barriers to the Capitol to be overrun by protesters. In fact, Epps is seen speaking to a man shortly before that man seizes the rack. Epps subsequently became one of scores of people at the Capitol who were identified as people of interest by the FBI but was soon removed from the list — suspiciously, in Carlson’s telling.

All of this has been explained. The man who grabbed the bike rack, for example, was named Ryan Samsel. He told investigators that Epps hadn’t been encouraging him to remove the barrier; in fact, he said that Epps tried to de-escalate the scene, telling him, “relax, the cops are doing their job.” When Epps had seen his face on the FBI’s website, he quickly contacted the FBI and told them the same story. His face was subsequently removed from the bureau’s website.

Epps also spoke to investigators from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. In January 2022, the committee released a statement answering the other part of Carlson’s allegations, that he was not a federal agent or otherwise working with federal agencies.


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If I was Tucker - Nope. Show me proof not scare letters from a lawyer.

Among Carlson’s purported revelations from reviewing the footage was to again focus on Epps. He’d told investigators that he believed text he’d sent a bit after 2 p.m. was after he’d left the Capitol complex but footage showed him in the vicinity for about a half-hour after that point. Carlson didn’t really have a point; there was no new footage of Epps violating the law or enticing people to enter the building. It was just that he “lied” to investigators, Carlson claimed — and therefore (viewers were meant to infer) just as suspicious as Carlson had long insisted.

“The fanciful notions that Mr. Carlson advances on his show regarding Mr. Epps’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection are demonstrably (and already proven to be) false,” an attorney for Epps wrote in the letter to Carlson obtained by the Times. “And yet Mr. Carlson persists with his assault on the truth.” Epps sought a retraction of Carlson’s claims and a “formal on-air apology for the lies.”

After all, this isn’t really about Epps. It’s about Carlson convincing his audience that they cannot trust any authority figure outside of himself or other fringe-right actors. It’s about introducing doubt wherever possible for those who oppose his agenda. And, by extension, it’s about never introducing doubt about himself. Admitting a mistake is a central part of responsible news coverage. But it is also a jumping-off-point for bad-faith critics to do what Carlson does: suggest that this one admitted mistake proves the existence of an endless network of mistakes just under the water’s surface.

Epps certainly deserves an apology from Carlson, if for no other reason than that there’s no evidence to support Carlson’s claims in the first place. Without threatening further legal action, though, it’s very unlikely he’ll get one.

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Tucker Carlson made the defamatory claims. He’s the one who needs to show proof that they aren’t fake.

The letter on behalf of Ray Epps and his wife Robyn claims that the statements from Mr Carlson have exposed the couple to “threats, intimidation, and harassment, resulting in significant economic and emotional damages,” adding that each time MR Carlson and Fox News “spreads more misinformation about Mr Epps, the harm redoubles.”

“Recent revelations from the Dominion Voting lawsuit make clear that Fox News has zero qualms about lying to its viewers,” Mr Teter said in a statement shared with The Independent. “The fictional story that Mr Carlson and Fox News have told, and continue to tell, about Ray Epps is just one more example of this. It is time for Mr Carlson and Fox News to stop the lies and to make amends.”

The letter claims that Mr Carlson and Fox News “have repeatedly peddled claims about Mr Epps that lack any foundation in fact,” including accusations that Mr Epps is a federal agent acting as a provocateur to incite the riots.

Mr Teter said that they expect Mr Carlson and Fox News to “give the same airtime in retracting these falsehoods as you spent amplifying them” and demanded that they “issue a formal on-air apology for the lies” spread about Mr Epps.

[link to www.independent.co.uk (secure)]

Awww look at them like Ma and Pa Kettle. Sooooooo innocent.

I think Ray Epps should have just kept his mouth shut, EVERYONE will now see.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1635948006305570819

Last Edited by MrCoolone on 03/23/2023 07:20 PM

And immediately being called out the day before

Take it to court, discovery will be done on all Epps communications. It will be glorious to out the agitator.

Must have the same legal team as Hunter.

Discovery works both ways. Remember all the Fox texts and emails that were produced saying in private that Kraken Lady’s Dominion vote rigging story was all bullshit?

Epps lawyers know everything about their client’s communications and what would be produced.

He didn’t. For a reason.

And yes, now everyone will see the fake news that Tucker was pushing for what it is.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve really seen how Tucker pushes fake news for ratings.

This is just another one.

An apology for leading an insurrection? What are his views on the stolen election?

Thanks for posting that. Now everyone can view a video of Eps trying to intsigate a riot.

On more than one occasion too.

The Coward ran away on his golf cart and should have defended himself at the time he was exposed, but he ran and hid. Any good Patriot would have set the record straight at that point in time. The FBI has most likely been cleaning up their complicit behavior and Ray just feels confident now thinking all of his connections are clear now. There are way too many videos that contradict him. His silence was deafening as to his guilt. But hey, I remain open minded, let's hear what Ray has to say, if his attorney let's him speak.

I remember Trump saying pretty much the same thing.

“ And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down.

Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.”

“ So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol, and we're going to try and give.

So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.“


—-Donald Trump 1/6/21

I know, right? Look at his eyebrows, sooo sincere.

I'm betting mr.epp will lose his suit.

Too late.

We figured it out

Ray Epps= FBI False Flag Attack Guy.

We watched the video!!!!

Cool story.

So where’s the beef?

All Tucker has to say is, show me one person brought before congress that denied Epps was or has ever been a gov't agent

all of them said they can't disclose, if he wasn't they could say

Can't wait for Ray Epps to testify in front of congress.

Oh, look, it's a federal traitor protecting his colleague. Fuck off, glowie.