Ray Epps sues Fox News, claims he faces DOJ indictment over Jan. 6

Ray Epps, a prominent Jan. 6 protester whom conservatives have speculated may have been an undercover FBI agent, has sued Fox News, contending that he faces an indictment from the Department of Justice that may not have come were it not for the network's coverage of him.

"In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party," the complaint reads. "Eventually, they turned on one of their own, telling a fantastical story in which Ray Epps who was a Trump supporter that participated in the protests on January 6th was an undercover FBI agent and was responsible for the mob that violently broke into the Capitol and interfered with the peaceful transition of power for the first time in this country's history."

"[I]n May 2023, the Department of Justice notified Epps that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January 6, 2021, two-and-a-half years later. The relentless attacks by Fox and Mr. Carlson and the resulting political pressure likely resulted in the criminal charges," the suit claims. The DOJ has not publicly announced charges against Epps.

Epps vehemently denies allegations that he was an undercover FBI agent. The complaint asserts that he and his wife both voted for former President Donald Trump and mutually agreed that he should attend the Jan. 6, 2021, demonstration to protest what they believed at the time to have been a stolen election.

He contends that Fox News made him a scapegoat "that would help absolve itself and would appeal to its viewers. It settled on Ray Epps and began promoting the lie that Epps was a federal agent who incited the attack on the Capitol."

Epps further singled out former Fox host Tucker Carlson, whom he said, along with the entire network, "commenced a years-long campaign spreading falsehoods" about him.

Carlson previously was a prominent figure in a defamation lawsuit against the network by Dominion Voting Systems, with which Fox ultimately settled for $787 million. Following the deal, Carlson was fired from the network and he has since launched a show on Twitter.

The suit points to the Dominion matter, claiming "Fox recklessly disregarded the truth ignoring independent audits, hand recounts, bipartisan election officials, election security experts, judges, and Republican officials and persisted in sticking to the false narrative."

"Behind the scenes–away from the red light of rolling cameras–executives, producers, and on-air personalities rejected as preposterous and crazy the claims that Fox was feeding its viewers. But in front of the camera, Fox continued with the lies," it continues, before claiming that Epps and his wife had watched Fox's coverage of the election and that their coverage had influenced their decision for him to attend the Jan. 6 demonstration.

He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.