John Sullivan’s presence in the Capitol isn’t new information. His videos, watermarked JaydenX, showed the Ashli Babbitt shooting and made the rounds of the internet. And considering his vocal social media presence under that name and his interviews afterward, he made no secret of his political orientation.

But he was selling his presence as being there to document the clashes. The DOJ however makes it clear that he was inciting it.

After the crowd broke through the last barricade, and as SULLIVAN and the others approach the Capitol Building, SULLIVAN can be heard in the video saying at various points: “There are so many people. Let’s go. This shit is ours! Fuck yeah,” “We accomplished this shit. We did this together. Fuck yeah! We are all a part of this history,” and “Let’s burn this shit down.”

Later, SULLIVAN’s video includes footage of individuals climbing a wall to reach a plaza just outside the Capitol Building entrance, as seen in the screenshot below. As individuals are climbing the wall, SULLIVAN can be heard saying, “You guys are fucking savage. Let’s go!”

At one point, SULLIVAN can be heard telling one of the individuals climbing the wall to give SULLIVAN his hand as individuals in the crowd are calling to help people up the wall.

The video records SULLIVAN’s entrance into the U.S. Capitol building through a broken window:

SULLIVAN, once inside the Capitol Building, roamed the building with other individuals who unlawfully entered. During one of his interactions with others, SULLIVAN can be heard in the video saying, “We gotta get this shit burned.” At other times as he is walking through the Capitol, SULLIVAN can be heard saying, among other things, “it’s our house motherfuckers” and “we are getting this shit.”

At one point in the video, SULLIVAN enters an office within the U.S. Capitol, as seen in the screenshot below. Once inside the office, SULLIVAN approaches a window, also seen in the screenshot below, and states, “We did this shit. We took this shit.”

At another time in the video, SULLIVAN is walking down a hallway in the 14 U.S. Capitol with a large group of people. SULLIVAN pans to a closed door and can be heard saying, “Why don’t we go in there.” After someone hits against the door, SULLIVAN can be heard saying, “That’s what I’m sayin’, break that shit.” Further down the hall, SULLIVAN can be heard saying, “It would be fire if someone had revolutionary music and shit.”

Sullivan sounds like a fairly typical BLM/Antifa rioter here. Right down to the “revolutionary music” part. Trump supporters are not looking for “revolutionary music”. Nothing he says sounds like a conservative protester. But then it’s not clear that he’s pretending to be one. Anyone who took him for one is an idiot.

But he is inciting violence by the very people he then goes on to describe as “Trump terrorists”.

On social media he acts as if he’s documenting crimes, and, like a whole bunch of the other suspects contacted by investigators, he’s happy to send them everything.

That was not a good decision.

He assumed that he would get a pass the way he had from the media. Instead the FBI is dragging him in. 

Some people are flagging his interactions with police here.

In addition, several times during the video, SULLIVAN encounters law enforcement officers who are trying to prevent further advancement through the building by those who entered unlawfully. In at least two encounters, SULLIVAN can be heard on the video arguing with the officers, telling them to stand down so that they do not get hurt. Among other things, SULLIVAN can be heard telling officers, “you are putting yourself in harm’s way,” “the people have spoken,” and “there are too many people, you gotta stand down, the people out there that tried to do that shit, they got hurt, I saw it, I’m caring about you.”

Less than two minutes later, while officers are still at the doors and as others yell to break the glass windows in them with various objects, SULLIVAN can be heard saying, “Hey guys, I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up.” 

This is fairly typical of what experienced lefty activists do when dealing with police at protests. Conservatives assume that it’s all direct confrontation. It actually veers in a manic-depressive way from this kind of gaslighting to violent assaults. That’s what makes it disconcerting.

The takeaway for conservatives from Sullivan and from this whole mess is that marches and rallies need to have clear organizational structure and leadership, and have to keep away the sorts of people, whether from the far-left or the far-right, looking for a violent confrontation. Conservatives aren’t collectivists and don’t function that way, but it creates a vacuum into which all sorts of bad actors have stepped.