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Controversial conservative journalist Andy Ngô claims that a blurry photo from the recent storming of the US Capitol building is of John Earle Sullivan, who he (mis-?)characterises as an extreme BLM activist. Last year he was arrested in connection with instigating violence during BLM protests.

The photo lacks detail to verify if it's him or not - the only thing I've been able to verify was that he in the area two weeks earlier.

Is there any other evidence to confirm whether or not he was present at the protest?

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  • What are the downvotes for? I'm happy to reword the question if I've missed the appropriate tone.
    – Brett
    Jan 12, 2021 at 2:03
  • Not my DVs, but it may be because you're using one guy's presence or absence to editorialize about your views as what that might mean. I'm gonna add here that it's not uncommon for these figures to have their own conspiracy theories going on about them, e.g. the "QAnon shaman" has a couple of Snopes entries regarding claims about him.
    – Fizz
    Jan 12, 2021 at 2:13
  • @Fizz Do you think it would be better to generalise this into more "were there non-trump supporting anti-government agents present at the capitol riot" and just use this one photo as an example of the claim? I might have misunderstood how specific a claim being questioned needs to be.
    – Brett
    Jan 12, 2021 at 2:19
  • If you want to use the larger claim, you could use Mo Brooks' statement/tweet "Please, don’t be like #FakeNewsMedia, don’t rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics." twitter.com/repmobrooks/status/1347171347043115008
    – Fizz
    Jan 12, 2021 at 3:48
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    He was present and has been open about this, claiming he was recording and documenting events and denying that he was involved in organizing or planning the incident. See politifact
    – Henry
    Jan 12, 2021 at 11:53

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Yes, he was. He admitted it in a video on his own Twitter, and even posted videos he shot at the location. (The latter he also posted on youtube; in one of these he says he's "anti-government".)

And Fox News and CNN covered his participation too. I can only find a transcript from the former though:

An anti-Trump activist who once said he wanted to "rip" the president out of office entered the Capitol Building Wednesday alongside a mob of pro-Trump protesters, but he said he was just there to "document" it.

And some secondary coverage of the latter (CNN) coverage on CBS58:

The US Capitol Police employee who shot Babbitt has been placed on administrative leave and their police powers have been suspended pending a joint Metro Police and USCP investigation, USCP said. [...]

Two people who saw the shooting, left-wing activist John Sullivan and documentary filmmaker Jade Sacker, provided CNN with video of the incident and described the moments beforehand.

He was now arrested and charged with entering a restricted area, interfering with law enforcement, and disorderly conduct, in part because he did not have any press credentials, but also because he was heard saying things like “We gotta get this shit burned.” (Press coverage; FBI Affidavit.)

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