Crowds storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 as police stand in the way.
Three mainstream news organizations paid a self-proclaimed Antifa activist to purchase video of the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol. The individual is accused of committing crimes during the Capitol incident.
CNN, NBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) paid John Earle Sullivan tens of thousands of dollars to use video footage he shot inside the Capitol, according to a new court filing.
CNN paid him $35,000; NBC paid $35,000; and ABC paid $2,375, according to invoices filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Sullivan, 26, was arrested and charged last month for allegedly committing several crimes on Jan. 6, including violent entry (of the Capitol), civil disorder and disturbing the peace.
Neither CNN nor NBC returned requests for comment.
Video footage, some of which was taken by Sullivan, shows the Utah man breaking into the Capitol and encouraging others to go inside and burn the building down.
Later on Jan. 6, CNN (CNN) also invited Sullivan to be interviewed along with Jade Sacker, a freelance Writer who has been published in several media outlets.
Sullivan has said that he has no political agenda. However, he has also told other news organizations that he is an Antifa, a so-called anti-fascist. Antifa is a far-left anarcho-communist group that has engaged in violent activities throughout the United States in recent years. Sullivan also has ties to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. However, BLM leaders in Utah have denied this.
Sullivan was conditionally released shortly after his indictment, and remains free despite violating the conditions of his release. A federal judge on Tuesday (Feb. 16) denied Twitter and Facebook bans on him. However, it said he could no longer work for Insurgence USA, the group he founded to help the community. He founded the organization to help advocate for “African-American and indigenous voices.
Obama-appointed District Judge Robin Meriweather also ordered a halt to Sullivan’s 24-hour surveillance, but said his Internet use would be checked by probation officers; Sullivan cannot use social media platforms to incite riots or violent protests, Politico reported. As the case progressed, he was forced to remain at Home.
Sullivan’s attorneys had called the government’s attempt to “restrict the defendant’s ability to communicate in the manner in which the vast majority of Americans communicate oppressive, overbroad and unconstitutional” in a memo.
“The government’s wholly overbroad requirements would effectively prohibit him from communicating with friends; interacting with his Family; writing his thoughts; following the news; checking the weather; reading the newspaper or using these social media platforms for any of the usual reasons of the vast majority of (people).” The attorney wrote.
Sullivan has already been banned from using Twitter and Facebook, as well as 11 other sites, by a Utah judge in a separate case.
Sullivan had claimed to be a journalist as a way to justify what he was doing in Washington, but authorities say it was a front.
“Under the guise of being a journalist …… he engaged in and incited violence, including the kind of social disruption we saw on Jan. 6.” Prosecutor Candice Wong told the court.
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