Columnist’s ‘Undercover FBI’ Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory Easily Debunked By NBC Reporter
A January 6 conspiracy theory promoted by Fox News contributor and The Hill columnist Liz Peek was easily debunked by NBC News’ Ryan Reilly on Monday.
In an article published by The Hill on Friday in response to the impending release of the full gamut of videos from the January 6 Capitol riot, Peek suggested that the the tapes — some of which have already been released — would lead to many rethinking their understanding of that day’s events.
Peek submitted that while coverage of the Capitol riot “from the liberal media” as well as “the made-for-TV depiction of events skillfully put together by House Democrats for the second impeachment trial of Trump” tell only “one story.”
“Certain videos, some of which were released by Tucker Carlson in April, tell another. It is clear that Democrats cherry-picked the evidence that painted Trump and his supporters in the worst possible light. Commentators on the right have done the opposite. Legitimate questions persist,” she argued before continuing:
For instance, some protestors are shown being uncuffed and fist-bumped by cops, suggesting that there were undercover FBI or police in the crowd, whom some accuse of purposefully instigating the storming of the Capitol. That issue was raised last spring by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, who wrote a letter to the Metropolitan Police Department asking about the presence of “plain-clothes officers.”
But as Reilly pointed out, the man uncuffed by police, Jared Luther Owens, was released “because police were overwhelmed” and was not a paid instigator, as the Department of Justice’s charges against him show.
.@lizpeek has a column in @thehill that claims that a video showing a rioter being uncuffed and released on Jan. 6 (because police were overwhelmed) suggests he was an undercover.
Hard nope! His name is Jared Luther Owens, and he’s been charged. pic.twitter.com/wSJuFxy3pu
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) November 27, 2023
On October 30 of this year, Owens was arrested and charged “with felony offenses of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assault on law enforcement with a deadly or dangerous weapon” as well as several additional misdemeanors.
The press release detailing the charges explained that Owens’s alleged attempt to shove a barricade into a “line of officers” resulted in one female officer suffering a fractured wrist. He is also accused of shoving an officer up against a wall inside the Capitol before being apprehended.
