Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mike Lee has acknowledged a man seen in footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection was likely not a federal agent after sharing a social media post earlier this month promoting a conspiracy theory about the riot.
The Republican shared a screenshot of a video on his personal account on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 18, depicting a man in a red Make America Great Again hat inside the Capitol on the day of the riot. The man is seen holding something in his right hand, which led Derrick Evans — a Republican congressional candidate from West Virginia who pleaded guilty to a felony related to the Jan. 6 riots — to ask if the person was "flashing a badge."
The video — which was part of more than 100 hours of new footage released by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana — fueled a debunked conspiracy theory that the insurrection was part of a "false flag" operation by federal agents, designed to hurt former President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Lee reposted Evans' post, saying he "can't wait to ask FBI Director Christopher Wray about this at our next oversight hearing."
In reality, the person depicted in the five-minute video is Kevin James Lyons, a Chicago man who was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for his role on Jan. 6, according to the Associated Press.
Lyons can be seen in court documents wearing the same hat and camouflage scarf inside then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and holding a framed photo of Pelosi with the late Rep. John Lewis, which he took from her office.
I can't wait to ask FBI Director Christopher Wray about this at our next oversight hearing.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) November 19, 2023
I predict that, as always, his answers will be 97% information-free. https://t.co/m3rRE4Byfu
On Tuesday, Lee was told by reporters at the Capitol that since Lyons was in prison, he was not likely a federal agent, to which Lee responded: "Yeah. Sounds right to me," according to the Huffington Post.
Lee has not deleted the post or issued a formal statement acknowledging Lyons' conviction on charges including obstruction of an official proceeding. A spokesman for the senator did not respond to a request for comment.
An ardent Trump supporter, Lee told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the days before Jan. 6 that he had "been spending 14 hours a day for the last week trying to unravel this for (Trump)," according to texts obtained by CNN. The senator ultimately backed away from the former president's alleged scheme to have Congress consider votes from alternate electors on Jan. 6.
He has recently criticized the series of charges brought against the former president for his alleged role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, calling them "political weaponization of criminal law."
