WASHINGTON ― Sen. Mike Lee from Utah dismissed the notion of a federal agent posing as a Donald Trump supporter in a photo he posted last week.
The Utah Republican wanted to question FBI Director Christopher Wray about a claim on social media that new footage from the U.S. Capitol siege on January 6, 2021, revealed a man in a MAGA hat flashing a badge to police officers. The photos were thought to provide evidence of a conspiracy involving the federal government orchestrating the riot until an NBC News reporter identified the man as Kevin Lyons, who was serving a four-year prison sentence for his actions that day.
HuffPost approached Lee, who conceded that since Lyons was in prison, he was unlikely to be a federal agent. “Yeah. Sounds right to me,” Lee said. Despite this, Lee has not deleted his social media posts about Lyons. His remarks on Tuesday displayed a willingness to recognize facts that some of his fellow Republicans do not share. For instance, several House GOP members maintained that an Arizona man named Ray Epps was working for the government on January 6, even after Epps pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on restricted grounds in September.
House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier announced Republicans would release thousands of hours of Capitol footage from January 6 to show the full truth of the event. Lee’s spokesperson stated that the American people deserve to be treated like adults regarding the events and should be given all available information. Meanwhile, Lee suggested he had been trying to convey a point about the FBI director needing to answer questions in general. “I got a lot of questions for the FBI director about all sorts of things,” Lee said.
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