Ex-Oath Keeper Ray Epps pokes holes in right-wing conspiracies during Jan. 6 panel testimony

A former Oath Keeper who has been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection told the House select committee he was trying to prevent violence ahead of the attack.

Ray Epps, who Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts have accused of being an undercover FBI provocateur, testified before the panel that he had believed the U.S. Capitol was open to the public and that he believed his role was to keep violence from breaking out.

"I didn't want to fight with anybody," Epps told investigators. "I didn't want any violence. I was trying to prevent. If you had footage, body cam footage from the police, you would see even more of me trying to stop that stuff."

A reporter captured video of Epps urging the crowd to go into the Capitol, but he insisted that he believed the protest was peaceful and justified.

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"The Capitol is the people's house, and the Rotunda, people can go into the Rotunda and see what's happening there," testified Epps, who said he believed it was open to visitors because it was a weekday. "My vision was get as many people in there as we can and surround it, be there, let them know that we're not happy with the, with what, with what has happened, and that was it. No violence."

Epps has not been charged with any crimes related to his presence at the Capitol, which has fueled speculation that was working for the government at the time, but he told the committee that he hadn't been involved with the federal government since leaving military service.

"The only time I've been involved with the government was when I was a Marine in the United States Marine Corps," he testified.