WASHINGTON — A jury trial began Thursday for the Utah man who recorded the moment a U.S. Capitol Police officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt as she was attempting to breach the Speaker’s Lobby door on Jan. 6, 2021.
John Earle Sullivan, 29, was arrested a week after the Capitol riot on an initial felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor counts alleging he unlawfully entered the building. A federal grand jury indicted him in February 2021 on six counts, including an additional felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Sullivan was quickly identified because he filmed his participation in the riot for more than an hour and a half. Sullivan, who was also known by the nickname “Activist John,” streamed online under the name “JaydenX” and the branding of his organization, Insurgence USA. Sullivan’s brother, James, told WUSA9 in an interview in January 2021 he turned him in to the FBI after receiving hundreds of messages asking him if Sullivan had participated in the riot.
During opening arguments Thursday, Sullivan’s attorney, Steven Kiersh, told jurors his client went to the Capitol to make money off selling his footage of the protest – something he’d done numerous times before around the country. Sullivan had previously attempted to lead protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, but was disavowed by the Utah chapter over his and his brother’s ties to the Proud Boys. Sullivan was previously charged with criminal mischief and rioting in connection with a June 2020 protest he helped organize during which someone was shot.
Sullivan’s defense theory may be undermined by his own statements on his recordings. Sullivan can be heard repeatedly urging the mob forward and warning police to stand down. At one point while inside the building, Sullivan told other rioters, “We gotta get this s*** burned.” At another point while inside an office, Sullivan can be heard saying, “We did this s***. We took this s***.” Prosecutors say Sullivan can also be heard describing breaking a window, although he was never charged with destruction of property.
The biggest challenge for Sullivan to explain to jurors will likely be his comments as he approached the Speaker’s Lobby door, where Capitol Police had erected a barricade to prevent rioters from reaching members of Congress. As he approached, Sullivan can be heard saying, “I have a knife… Let me through I got a knife. I got a knife. I got a knife.”
A short time later, U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed as she attempted to climb through a broken window of the door. Sullivan filmed Babbitt’s shooting and later sold his footage. If convicted, federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is presiding over the trial, to order the forfeiture of the approximately $90,000 he made off the sale of that footage.
Sullivan’s case drew early attention on the right after former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed antifa was behind the riot and linked Sullivan to the leftist movement. Sullivan has at times given different answers about his affiliation with antifa. During an interview with WUSA9 he denied being a member of the movement. The FBI has found no link between antifa and the Capitol riot. Giuliani has since been indicted in Georgia on racketeering charges linked to his and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In July, the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility recommended Giuliani lose his law license over his “malicious and meritless claims” relating to the 2020 election. Giuliani is fighting that recommendation.