John Earle Sullivan

John Earle Sullivan (born July 18, 1994),

Before the January 6 attack, Sullivan organized and participated in protests relating to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, though a few other BLM organizers explicitly disavowed him, even expelling Sullivan from rallies and warning fellow activists to avoid associating with Sullivan.

Following Sullivan's participation in the Capitol attack, Rudy Giuliani accused Sullivan of being affiliated with Antifa. By May 2021, Sullivan was facing eight federal charges for his involvement in the January 6 events.

On November 16, 2023, Sullivan was convicted of five felonies and two misdemeanor charges. On April 23, 2024, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

On January 20, 2025, the first day of the second presidency of Donald Trump, Sullivan was pardoned along with nearly every other participant in the Capitol attack.

Early life and family Sullivan was adopted into a conservative Latter-Day Saint family. Sullivan participated in the 2018 Olympic trials but failed to qualify; Despite this, he has claimed to have "competed in the 2018 Olympic Games".

Civilized Awakening and Insurgence USA Conservative activist James Sullivan, John's brother, reports that John was conservative "until recently".

In June 2020, John Sullivan founded "Insurgence USA", a group participating in protests against police violence. Sullivan was accused of exploiting the racial justice movement for self-gain. The Salt Lake Tribune observed that Sullivan had been selling merchandise and indulging in self-promotion on many websites; his Insurgence USA website sells protest-related gear, such as black clothing, gloves, and gas masks, branded "bloc gear collective". where a Back the Blue group drove vehicles driving around the Provo police station. Meanwhile, Sullivan and others organized a counter-protest blocking vehicles and interfering with traffic on a busy street. One man affiliated with Sullivan, Jesse Taggart, was charged with attempted murder for shooting and injuring a driver who had slowly moved through the crowd of protestors. The shooting victim was not affiliated with either protest group.

Sullivan was arrested and charged with rioting, making a threat of violence and criminal mischief.

Ties to Proud Boys

Sullivan organized events in Provo, Utah, that were controversial with BLM. Sullivan experienced greater skepticism after a July 1, 2020, event where he invited speeches from the Proud Boys, an American far-right, neo-fascist organization that promotes and engages in political violence. Sullivan's close relationship with the Proud Boys led to BLM activists refusing to work with him.

Criticism for armed protest On July 22, 2020, Sullivan held a solo, armed protest at the Utah State Capitol, carrying an AR-15. The protest lasted a few hours, during which he was confronted by twenty armed men from Utah Citizens' Alarm. As he began carrying assault rifles to protest, this invited hostility from both the right and the left. Lex Scott said that Sullivan seemed to have "a death wish" as he thought it would be "cool, or amazing, if he was killed at a protest and it started a revolution". he and his brother John were subjects of a documentary being filmed by Jade Sacker. Sacker reportedly used two teams to document the brothers' efforts.

On November 26, 2020, Seattle activists published a memo accusing John Sullivan of being an agent provocateur seeking to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement: That same day, James Sullivan was similarly evicted from a pro-Trump event in Washington. Sullivan took extensive video, including video of the killing of Ashli Babbitt. Sullivan could be heard saying "Dude, this shit's gonna go viral" after Babbitt's death.

Upon reaching the front of the crowd, he told a law enforcement officer guarding the barricaded door: "We want you to go home. I’m recording and there’s so many people and they’re going to push their way up here. Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt. I don’t want to see you get hurt."

Detention and FBI interview

On January 7, Sullivan was interviewed by FBI agents about the shooting. Sullivan said he is not affiliated with BLM or antifa, nor with the pro-Trump crowd, although he supports Black Lives Matter. When asked about the use of antifa hashtags in his social media posts, he rejected being associated with the group, but has stated that he, along with his group, is anti-fascist. He admitted to shouting support during the attack, but claimed he only did these things to "blend in" with the pro-Trump mob.

Arrest and charges Sullivan was arrested in Tooele County, Utah, and appeared before a judge on January 15, 2021. Two computers, two cell phones, and camera equipment were seized by the FBI. He was released with strict pre-trial conditions. He was released as the authorities did not have sufficient proof to keep him in custody, and under the conditions that he keeps a job where he has to work full-time; remains at home except to go to work, church or court; only posts to social media to request jobs; does not leave Utah and surrenders his passport to the authorities; does not work anymore with Insurgence USA though still being allowed to handle its financial transactions and tax returns; has a mental health evaluation; does not possess firearms.

Antifa conspiracy theory

Sullivan's involvement in the riots was cited by pro-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and The Gateway Pundit as part of a conspiracy theory alleging antifa's involvement in the riots. Giuliani published a screen shot of a message from James Sullivan reading "I'm currently working with the FBI to expose and place total blame on John and the 226 members of antifa that instigated the Capitol 'riot'".

Federal authorities had not identified Sullivan as a member of antifa and the FBI had announced on January 8 there was no evidence of antifa involvement in the siege. BLM Utah had for months disassociated itself from Sullivan on concerns that he might be associated with the Proud Boys.

Claims of being a journalist Sullivan has called himself a citizen journalist and claimed he was at the Capitol attack only as a photojournalist. An FBI affidavit disputes the claim he was a photojournalist, as he had no press credentials. Prosecutors allege that in December 2020, Sullivan publicly denied being a journalist.

Sullivan's own recording is described as a first-person documentary film he released on YouTube under the title Shooting and Storming of the US Capitol in Washington DC. J. Hoberman, a film critic writing in Artforum, reviewed Sullivan's film, describing it as "cinema as forensic evidence" and comparing it to the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination, while also characterizing it as a "gonzo reportage". Parts of the footage were used in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. CNN, NBC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Washington Post were among the media outlets that paid Sullivan for his video.

When entering the Capitol, Sullivan was accompanied by Jade Sacker, a Los Angeles-based independent documentary filmmaker, who was filming John Sullivan as part of a documentary on him and his brother, James.

Conviction Sullivan was convicted on November 16, 2023, by a jury in the District of Columbia of five felonies and two misdemeanor charges related to his conduct during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. On April 23, 2024, Sullivan was sentenced to six years in prison.

On January 20, 2025, the first day of the second presidency of Donald Trump, Sullivan was pardoned along with nearly every other participant in the Capitol attack.