How Many Non-Trump Supporters were in the Mob?

             A mob breached the barriers at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Some of them were wearing MAGA hats and dressing like supporters of President Donald Trump. Immediately, the cry went up that Trump supporters were trashing the Capitol, and Democrats in Congress began to plan a second impeachment of Trump. One week after the attack and without any investigation, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pushed an impeachment vote. Ten Republicans joined every Democrat in the House to impeach Trump.

            According to this site, the Department of Justice said today that John Earle Sullivan, a Black Lives Matter activist from Utah, has been arrested and charged for his participation in the breaching of the Capitol. He was charged with unlawful entry, disorderly conduct, and attempted obstruction of law enforcement in the attack on the Capitol. According to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint against him, Sullivan made clear that he does not support President Donald Trump.

“The United States obtained a video of Sullivan, posted on YouTube, in which, while attending a protest in Washington, D.C., Sullivan can be seen telling a crowd, over a microphone, ‘we about to burn this s-t down,’ ‘we got to rip Trump out of office … f-ing pull him out of that s-t … we ain’t waiting until the next election … we about to go get that motherf-er,’” the affidavit said. “Sullivan then can be seen leading the crowd in a change of, ‘it’s time for a revolution.’”

The document said Sullivan stated in an interview that “he was wearing a ballistic vest and gas mask while there. He showed the interviewing agent the ballistic vest. He further stated that he entered the U.S. Capitol with others through a window that had been broken out. Sullivan stated he followed the crowd as the crowd pushed past U.S. Capitol Police and followed the crowd into the U.S. Capitol.”

The affidavit said that in a video Sullivan provided to authorities, he “can be heard in the video saying at various points: ‘There are so many people. Let’s go. This s-t is ours! F-yeah,’ ‘We accomplished this s-t. We did this together. F-yeah! We are all a part of this history,’ and ‘Let’s burn this s-t down.”

The affidavit outlines one act of vandalism.

The camera then pans to show more of the window and a broken pane can be seen that was not broken on Sullivan’s approach to the window: Sullivan can then be heard saying, ‘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.’ Sullivan then exits the office.”

            This is not the first time that Sullivan has been involved in a riot. He organized a counter-protest against a pro-police event in June in Utah, and he was charged with making a threat of violence and criminal mischief. If he is from Utah, he obviously made special effort to be in Washington, D.C., at the time of the Trump protest – but not as a Trump supporter. I wonder how many other non-Trump supporters were involved in the assault.