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Left-wing activist charged in Capitol riot, egged on rioters to ‘get this s*** burned’

Known activist John Sullivan claimed he was inside in order to “document” the event, but was overheard egging rioters on.

By World Israel News Staff

A left-wing activist who said last week that he followed a pro-Trump mob into the Capitol in order to “document” the siege was arrested by police and charged with three offenses for taking an active role in the events, Fox News reported Friday.

In video he himself provided to the FBI, John Earle Sullivan from Utah can allegedly be heard encouraging people to break into the Capitol. He also posted the videos on his social media accounts under the pseudonym Jayden X.

Last week Sullivan, the founder of a Utah-based left-wing group called Insurgence USA, told Fox News he entered the Capitol building to “document” the event in order to dispute “this narrative going around” that Antifa instigators had played a role in the riot.

Instead, Sullivan appears to have incriminated himself. The Department of Justice charged him with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, and interfering with law enforcement officers during the commission of civil disorder.

Sullivan denied ties to Antifa, but in recent interviews Insurgence USA advertised an event called “Kick These Fascists out of DC” on Jan. 6 around the same time as a pro-Trump rally near the National Mall that preceded the Capitol chaos, Fox reported.

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Inside the building, he is heard telling rioters, “We got to get this s— burned,” and “it’s our house m————,” according to an FBI affidavit.

Sullivan told Rolling Stone last week that he was putting on an act to build rapport with the protesters, saying, “I had to relate to these people and build trust in the short amount of time I had there to get where I need to go … to the front of the crowd to see the dynamic between the police and the protesters, because nobody wants to see the backs of peoples’ heads from a far-off distance.”

It was Sullivan’s video on Twitter that showed the moment a Capitol police officer fatally shot Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt during the riot, and FBI investigators used the video to confirm Sullivan’s location inside the building.

Sullivan was still in custody Thursday and could not be reached for comment, Fox reported.

“We are fully committed to hold those who engaged in criminal acts accountable,” Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said at an FBI briefing Thursday. “Security preparations for the presidential inauguration and peaceful transfer of power continue, and we will have absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for any attempts to disrupt any aspect of the inauguration or associated events leading up to, on, and following January 20.”

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In a statement Thursday, the Department of Justice said 34 people have been arrested so far “for their alleged criminal conduct during the attack on the Capitol Building,” and the FBI has opened approximately 200 subject case files.

Aside from Sullivan, the other 34 arrested included retired firefighter Robert Sanford of Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, who was charged with assault after being seen in a video allegedly throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol police officers. Although Sanford’s attorney said his client wasn’t involved in any right-wing extremist groups, prosecutors said a Proud Boys shirt was found in his home, CBS News reported.

The man filmed carrying a Confederate flag in the Capitol was arrested Thursday morning in Delaware, ABC News reported. Kevin Seefried was charged with illegally entering the building as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and depredation of government property.