John Sullivan said he was there to see history as a journalist, but he had no press releases.
Photo by John Sullivan. Thanks to the Sheriff’s Department of Tooele County.
John Sullivan, an activist in Utah, was booked on Thursday on a warrant in the Tooele County Jail for allegedly participating in the riots last week at the U.S. Capitol.
Sullivan has been charged in federal court in Columbia District with civilian disorder, confinement and disorderly conduct.
‘I was there to observe; “I was there to see what they were going to do,” he said.
Much of the evidence against Sullivan comes from his own videos.
On January 6, after supporters of President Donald Trump surrounded the American Capitol in Washington, DC, Sullivan shot a video of rioters breaking down police barriers. Once the crowd is through, Sullivan can be heard shouting, ‘We did it. We did it together, ‘and’ we are all part of this history. … Let us burn down these s, according to the affidavit.
Later, the video contains footage of rioters climbing a wall to reach a square outside the entrance to the Capitol building. According to the affidavit, Sullivan can hear screams “let’s go” and other words of encouragement to the people climbing the wall. At one point, Sullivan tells a person trying to climb against the wall to give Sullivan his hand.
According to the documents, Sullivan was wearing a ballistic vest and a gas mask. He entered the Capitol building through a broken window.
Once inside the Capitol, Sullivan entered an office, walked to a window and said, ‘We did it —. We took these s —, according to the affidavit. A knocking sound is heard outside the screen and when the camera breaks back to the window, a part of it that was not broken when Sullivan arrives is broken. Sullivan can be heard saying, ‘I broke it. My bad, my apology, ”according to the affidavit.
Sullivan was at one point during the riot part of a crowd that, according to the documents, tried to keep a room inside that was guarded by police officers. He allegedly shouted that he had a knife and asked people to “let him down.”
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Sullivan says he was not in DC to take part in the riot. He says he apparently only took part in the riots so he could merge for his own safety.
“I have to join the f —— crowd because there are a lot of people who wanted to hurt me,” he said.
Sullivan is the founder of Insurgence USA, a Utah group that focuses on police reform and racial justice that he started after the death of George Floyd. An online fundraiser says the group wants to build local power to enable the community to ‘intervene in violence perpetrated by state and government supervisors. ‘
However, he is not affiliated with Black Lives Matter Utah. Lex Scott, founder of BLM Utah, told The Tribune on Thursday that Sullivan had never been a member.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this article.