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Jan. 18, 2021 - Epoch Times
18:01
Confirmed: At Least One BLM Activist Was In US Capitol Breach | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
We have just confirmed that at least one BLM activist was among the people who breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, although he says that he was just there sightseeing.
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are pushing for both impeachment and or the invocation of the 25th Amendment.
They are basically blaming President Trump for everything that took place over at the Capitol.
While over in New York, the Supreme Court there ruled in favor of a small gym, saying that despite the lockdowns, they can open at full capacity.
Let's go through these stories together.
This is your never-ending 2020 election update, and I'm your host, Roman, from The Epoch Times.
Now let's begin today by talking about the aftermath of January the 6th, the protests that happened over in Washington, D.C. Now, first of all, there is a ton of speculation right now as to whether the breach of the Capitol was actually instigated by pro-Trump protesters or by subversive elements like Antifa or BLM activists who blended into the crowd.
Now, frankly, it's actually unclear who instigated the breach of the Capitol building.
We're still looking into it, still reviewing all of the footage.
However, there is at least one confirmed BLM activist who was part of the group that entered the U.S. Capitol.
That man's name is John Sullivan, and photographs show him inside of the Capitol building on January the 6th.
Now, who exactly is John Sullivan?
Well, he has, in the past, taken to social media to advocate for armed revolution.
He was arrested about six months ago for making threats of violence.
And in the past, he organized a protest with other BLM and Antifa activists.
According to the Desiree News, he has damaged vehicles and urged people to block roadways out in Utah.
And this was the guy that was photographed entering the Capitol last Wednesday.
Now, to give you both sides of the story, however, he has actually, since the break-in, given an interview to a TV station where he said that the reason that he was there in Washington, D.C. was not to agitate, but to better understand supporters of President Trump.
He told that TV station that, Now, thus far, he has not been charged with any crimes.
However, 55 other people have been charged with crimes relating to the breach of the U.S. Capitol.
According to the acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., 40 of those cases have been filed with the D.C. Superior Court, including eight firearms-related cases, including one man who was arrested with a military semi-automatic rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails that were ready to go.
So we here at the Epoch Times, we're going to keep investigating and keep looking into who these people were and who actually instigated the breach of the U.S. Capitol, and see if there are any more Antifa and BLM or other subversive elements that were there and that might have organized what happened.
And as we uncover more, I'll let you know right away.
If you'd like to read more about the people who were charged, or about this BLM activist who was among the crowd that we just talked about, those links will be in the description box below this video for you to check out for yourself.
And while you're down there looking for those links, take a quick moment to smash that like button.
You already know that big tech censors videos that are like this, not just on YouTube, but across all platforms.
But when you smash that like button, you are forcing the YouTube algorithm, the same algorithm that censors videos like this, to share this video out to potentially thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide.
Alright, just as an addendum to that section, our sister media, NTDTV, was able to compile some footage as well as interviews discussing the question of whether Antifa were present during the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Take a look.
Trump supporters have largely been blamed for the violence against police officers and property, but video footage appears to show a different story.
This video taken by NTD's on-the-ground reporters shows Trump supporters trying to stop the people smashing windows of the Capitol building and calling them Antifa.
You can hear them saying, anyone who does this is not with us.
It appears other protesters grab his leg and pull him down to stop him from breaking the window.
Other videos show pro-Trump protesters booing those breaking in and calling them Antifa.
This video appears to show them trying to stop the people smashing windows and shoving them towards the police.
We do know that many genuine Trump supporters did make it inside the barricades of the Capitol building.
A number of them say they didn't use violence to get in but were let in.
In this video, police appear to open the barricades.
Zach Voorhees, a former Google employee turned whistleblower, recorded a video of a Trump supporter who left the rally after things turned violent.
He claims he overheard a plot to make Trump supporters look bad.
They were dressed as Trump supporters, but I could tell by their conversation that they were looking to do, and I heard them say, we got to shake this up so that these people look bad.
And I saw them break a window on the Capitol.
Wednesday night, Congressman Mo Brooks urged people to not rush judgment on who assaulted the Capitol building.
Brooks said on Twitter that another congressman told him that intelligence suggested Antifa was going to try to infiltrate the rally by dressing like Trump supporters.
One protester who was at the forefront inside the Capitol and witnessed a woman getting shot has been identified as John Sullivan.
He told 2KUTV News that he didn't support President Trump, but attended the protest to document it.
Sullivan is a Black Lives Matter activist and the founder of Insurgence USA. On January 1st, he urged comrades to show up to the January 6th march.
He wrote on Twitter, We need numbers to show up no fascist in D.C. March Against Fascism spread the word comrades.
Hashtag F Trump Hashtag Antifa.
He was also arrested in July for allegedly rioting and making threats of violence.
In video captured by BG on the scene, he can be heard saying to other BLM activists that they need to rip Trump out of office and start a revolution.
We gotta f***ing rip Trump out of that office right over there.
I want y'all to be after me.
It's time for a revolution.
Much is still unknown about who exactly smashed the windows of the Capitol and what their intentions were.
An investigation is underway.
Grace Coulter, NTD News.
Now, let's talk a bit more about the aftermath and the ramifications of the break-in.
Now, first of all, here's a photo of the young woman that was tragically killed inside of the Capitol building.
Her name is Ashley Babbitt.
She was 35 years old, from California, and she was a 10-year veteran of the Air Force.
According to her grandfather, she did several tours over in Afghanistan.
Now, as to what actually took place surrounding her death, it's still unclear.
According to the Capitol Police, she was shot by an officer whose name has yet to be revealed.
There is an investigation pending, and the officer who shot Ashley has been placed on administrative leave as well as suspended.
Now, other than Ashley, according to the D.C. authorities, one woman and two other men died after suffering medical emergencies during the chaos.
Although, as of now, we don't actually have more details about what those medical emergencies were.
We don't know whether it's related to violence or maybe they were old and had some pre-existing conditions.
We'll let you know as soon as we find out.
Now, in terms of the police force, a U.S. Capitol Police officer actually died last night when he came to the injuries that he received on Wednesday inside of the Capitol.
Here's a picture of him.
The officer's name was Brian Sicknick, and he was a 12-year veteran of the force.
According to a report that was released by the department, he was injured while physically engaging with protesters.
He returned to this division office and collapsed.
He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
As a part of their statement, the department said that they expressed their deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick's family and friends on their loss and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague.
His death will now be investigated by the homicide branch of the department.
Now, in terms of the political blowback, the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, as well as the sergeant-at-arms of the House, all resigned after coming under very heavy pressure from Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell.
Now, that pressure is actually now extending to President Trump as well.
Nancy Pelosi made a statement saying that Congress may move to impeach President Trump if Mike Pence and the rest of Trump's cabinet don't act to remove him using the 25th Amendment.
In the statement, she said that, "...if the vice president and the cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.
It's a simple matter in terms of the Constitution.
The vice president working with the cabinet can immediately improve the security of our country." Now, I want to mention two things here.
First of all, it's not yet clear who actually instigated the breach of the Capitol building, as we discussed earlier.
We're still looking into it, and who knows, it might have been subversive elements, although nothing is clear yet.
And secondly, despite the blame for what happened falling on President Trump by Nancy Pelosi, as well as the Democrats, as well as members of his own cabinet, the President did urge his supporters to be both peaceful and to respect law enforcement.
And it's worth noting that he did not call for any sort of violence, either in his speech or in his social media messages.
Now, Mike Pence has not made any moves towards invoking the 25th Amendment.
In fact, yesterday, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi released a joint statement saying that they placed a call to Mike Pence regarding the 25th Amendment to discuss it, but have not yet heard back from the vice president.
Now, along this line, a Democratic representative from Texas introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump in the House yesterday.
So we'll have to see where all this goes.
And one question that you might be asking yourself is why are the Democrats pushing for impeachment when there are only about 12 days left in President Trump's term, technically?
Well, one of the reasons, I imagine at least, is that if he is successfully impeached, then that would preclude him from running for office again.
President Trump has come out and condemned the violence.
In a speech yesterday, he said that...
America is, and must always be, a nation of law and order.
So there you have it.
As to what will actually happen, we'll have to wait and see in the coming weeks how this all plays out.
If you'd like to read the President's full statement or any of the articles surrounding the 25th Amendment or impeachment, those links will be in the description box below this video for you to check out.
Alright, just as another addendum, the news cycle seems to be moving so fast that I wanted to mention a few other things that I was not able to mention during the in-studio filming of today's episode.
First of all, the National Guard is going to actually stay in Washington, D.C. through the end of January.
Basically, the governor of Virginia said that he will keep the National Guard posted there at least until January the 20th, which is, of course, Inauguration Day.
And he said that there will be 6,200 Guardsmen in the nation's capital by this upcoming weekend.
And the force will remain there until the inauguration.
Also, personnel are erecting a seven-foot tall, non-scalable fence around the perimeter of the U.S. Capitol.
So, I won't get into the irony of the Democrat mayor of Washington, D.C. erecting a wall around the Capitol to keep people out.
That is too obvious.
Now, in terms of the Trump cabinet, several members are resigning.
Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, has announced that she will be resigning.
She is, by the way, I'll just mention, Mitch McConnell's wife, just as an aside.
But she said that even though she's resigning, she will be working with Pete Buttigieg, who is the pick for Joe Biden in taking over the Transportation Department to help with the transition.
Also, Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education, also said that she is resigning, saying that, quote, there is no mistaking the impact that President Trump's rhetoric had on the situation.
Now, both of them resigned, of course, after what happened at the U.S. Capitol.
However, you know, the narrative seems to be, and the opposing narrative seems to be censored, that President Trump, in his speech at the White House to the people who were at the protest, he did ask the protesters to be peaceful and patriotic, to make their voices heard.
He did not ask them to be violent.
And instead, he actually urged Mike Pence to send the contested Electoral College votes back to the state legislature, both of which, of course, did not happen.
Now, also, the Trump campaign attorney here in Pennsylvania that was representing him in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he resigned from the case, citing the storming of the U.S. Capitol as well.
He filed a court filing, and in it he wrote that, quote, the lawyer services were used to perpetuate a crime, meaning the storming of the U.S. Capitol, and that the lawyer himself has a fundamental disagreement with the client, which is President Trump, and so he has resigned.
Now, on the other side, Senator Josh Hawley, who was, of course, the first U.S. Senator to say that he was going to contest the results of the election, he is actually suing Simon& Schuster, which is a book publishing company, for canceling a contract for his book.
So they canceled the contract after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, after they had already signed the contract to publish one of his books.
And so Senator Hawley called the cancellation a woke mob and said that the move could not be more Orwellian.
In a statement, he wrote that, quote, Now, on the other side, Simon& Schuster released a statement saying that they cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat.
And they also said that the cancellation of the contract was legal.
I guess it'll be up to the court to decide.
So that's the full update.
And now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
Now, one thing that I did not realize, because I was actually in Washington, D.C. on the ground on that day, was that protesters were actually flooding the state houses in 17 other states as well.
In those states, small and mostly peaceful protests challenging the legitimacy of the 2020 election took place outside of state houses, with signs saying Stop the Steal and Four More Years being a common sight.
Now, those other protests across the country were mostly peaceful, with only a few arrests being reported and a few scuffles breaking out here and there, places like Ohio and California.
If you want to read more about those other protests, I'll throw those links into the description box below for you to check out for yourself.
And now, before we move on from this subject, I just want to mention something a little bit...
I find it interesting.
After this protest, the subject of election fraud, which was already difficult to talk about because of both the censorship as well as the mainstream media narrative about it, has become almost completely taboo.
Even mentioning election fraud can have you branded as an insurrectionist.
And frankly, you probably will not hear anybody talking about it anymore, because even if they are talking about it, big tech will censor them outright.
In fact, yesterday, after YouTube instituted their new draconian policies, at least three of my videos were deleted.
Now, if you watch them, you know that those videos were honest, they were factual, they were properly sourced, and they were nuanced.
We didn't make any definitive claims about this election, but we did just introduce new evidence for you to check out, and everything was properly linked.
You can read the articles and see the data yourself.
But apparently there is no more room for that in public discourse.
Now regardless, if you'd like to follow the real developments on that front, on the election fraud front, if you want uncensored news, then I would highly recommend that you check out theepictimes.com.
I'll throw a link to it in the description box below this video for you to check out for yourself.
And now let's head on over to New York.
Now, in case you don't know, the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, he instituted some very heavy capacity limits for gyms that are in so-called orange micro-cluster zones, meaning that there's more cases of the virus there than in other places.
Basically, in those zones right now, gyms can only operate at a 25% capacity limit.
However, two days ago, a New York Supreme Court judge granted an injunction allowing a gym called the Athletes Unleashed to open without any capacity restrictions.
Now, you might have actually heard of this gym before, this gym called Athletes Unleashed, because there was a video not so long ago which went viral.
Okay, meth, you need to leave.
Get out!
Get out!
In that video, the owner was operating his gym as normal, basically in full capacity, and that was at a time when it was supposed to be closed, I believe.
It was supposed to be fully closed.
And a county health inspector came in, tried to break it up, but he couldn't.
And then the owner ripped up a $15,000 fine right there on camera.
So the lawyer representing this gym, he said that there was nothing that they cited that referenced how they arrived at that number, meaning 25% capacity, or how it would be justified.
In fact, the tracing statistics that the state has compiled show that gyms are some of the least transmitting places in the country.
So even though people are calling this injunction a win for small businesses, technically, at this moment, it only applies to that one gym, to Athletes Unleashed, meaning that other gyms in New York still must operate under the 25 capacity limit in order to operate at all.
In terms of the next steps, the attorney said that there is a second part of the lawsuit that the court will hear come February, and that's going to call into question the governor's authority to have any directive last longer than 30 days without consulting the legislature.
So we'll see what happens.
If you want to read more about this case, the link will be in the description box below this video for you to check out for yourself.
And lastly, as the restrictions on free speech get tighter and tighter, as what's allowed to be discussed on platforms like this, for instance, get more and more restricted, I hope that you continue to check back in with us because we will, to the best of our ability, for as long as we can, continue our discussion in a fact-based and well-sourced manner.
So until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
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