by Debra Heine
A federal jury in the District of Columbia decided Thursday that left-wing agitator John Earle Sullivan didn’t just document the January 6 Capitol Riot—he was a participant, Fox 13 reported.
The jury convicted Sullivan, 29, of five felonies and two misdemeanor charges related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. He was found guilty of the following felonious offenses: “obstructing an official proceeding, obstructing officers during a civil disorder, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds or buildings.”
Additionally, Sullivan was convicted of two misdemeanors: “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.”
The weapons charges relate to a knife he allegedly brought into the Capitol. Other January 6 defendants have been sentenced to years in prison for similar charges.
Unlike many Trump supporters, Sullivan did not have to wait for his day in court from jail. However, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered that he be held in custody while he awaits sentencing.
Sullivan was initially booked into custody in Tooele County, Utah under a U.S. Marshall’s warrant on January 14, 2021, after his brother James, a Trump supporter, sent tips to the Salt Lake City FBI. James Sullivan told Fox-13 that he believed his brother John was not only involved with the deadly riot on Jan. 6, he was “somehow in charge.”
Sullivan claimed in a video posted to social media after the riot that he was only in the Capitol building with the protesters as a reporter to document what was happening.
“I was there to record,” the agitator insisted in a video posted to Periscope. “I was there to let people see that situation in the best possible way.” Sullivan claimed that his videos proved that the riots were comprised of only Trump supporters and not left-wing agitators.
However, according to video he took himself and provided to law enforcement, Sullivan seemed to be egging the Trump supporters on.
“There are so many people. Let’s go. This sh-t is ours! F-ck yeah!” Sullivan can be heard saying in the video footage. “We accomplished this sh-t. We did this together. F-ck yeah! We are all a part of this history,” and “Let’s burn this sh-t down!”
Later, according to the complaint, “Sullivan’s video shows individuals climbing a wall to reach a plaza just outside the Capitol Building entrance. As individuals are scaling the wall, Sullivan be heard exclaiming, ‘You guys are f-cking savage. Let’s go!’”
At one point he can be heard telling protesters, “I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up.”
Sullivan’s video footage also confirms that he was present outside of the Speaker’s Lobby within the U.S. Capitol when unarmed Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot dead by a U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.
He can be heard urging police to move aside so the protesters could bash their way through the door. When the officers retreated, Sullivan egged the rioters to “go get this sh-t!”
Known online as Jayden X and Insurgence USA, Sullivan was a fixture at Black Lives Matter protests in Utah in the summer of 2020, although he was allegedly viewed with deep suspicion and distrust among BLM activists.
Sullivan testified that he went to the Capitol because he believed there would be a violent effort to stop the certification and he wanted to film the altercations. According to Court records, he sold his video footage to news outlets for $90,000.
In the end, Sullivan’s own videos were used in court as evidence that he participated in the riot.
Judge Lamberth will sentence Sullivan at a later date.
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Debra Heine is a reporter at American Greatness.
