Mark Ibrahim, an Army veteran who was fired from the DEA over his participation in the events of January 6, spoke out in Tuesday's episode of Fox News host Tucker Carlson's series.
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DEA agent charged in MAGA riot tells Tucker Carlson an FBI informant urged him to break into the Capitol: The Army veteran faces 15 years prison despite never entering the building
- Three people implicated in Capitol riot spoke out Tucker Carlson's docuseries
- Show attempts to paint arrests in the riot as targeting of political enemies
- Veteran and ex-DEA agent Mark Ibrahim says FBI informant urged him to attend
- Ibrahim now faces 15 years prison despite not entering Capitol, he says
- Former Army PSYOPS Capt. Emily Grace Rainey calls riot a possible 'false flag'
- Rainey has not been charged but says she was forced out of the military
- Alaska woman Marilyn Hueper was an apparent victim of mistaken identity
- FBI agents raided her home seeking Nancy Pelosi's laptop but found it elsewhere
- Carlson's controversial series has drawn strong reaction and condemnations
By
KEITH GRIFFITH and
JENNIFER SMITH, CHIEF REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 13:16 EDT, 2 November 2021 | UPDATED: 16:00 EDT, 2 November 2021
A former Drug Enforcement Agency official faces up to 15 years in prison over the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, despite his insistence that he never entered the building.
Mark Ibrahim, an Army veteran who was fired from the DEA over his participation in the events of January 6, spoke out in Tuesday's episode of
Fox News host Tucker Carlson's series on the fallout from the riot.
Ibrahim made the explosive claim that he was invited to attend
Donald Trump's 'Stop The Steal' rally by an
FBI informant he knew from his military service, who subsequently urged him to join the mob breaking into the Capitol, which he refused.
Carlson claimed to have confirmed this by speaking to the alleged informant, whom he did not name. His controversial series 'Patriot Purge' on the streaming service
Fox Nation has drawn strong reactions for depicting the law enforcement response to the riot as a political purge.
Mark Ibrahim, an Army veteran who was fired from the DEA over his participation in the events of January 6, spoke out in Tuesday's episode of 'Patriot Purge'
Federal prosecutors accuse Ibrahim of bringing his duty weapon and badge to the Capitol grounds and brazenly displaying them. He is seen above on January 6
Photos appear to show Ibrahim displaying his badge and weapon outside the Capitol, but the FBI alleged that he told investigators that the weapon and credentials were 'never exposed' during the riot 'that I know of'
'The photographs are of such high resolution that the serrations on the slide of Ibrahim’s DEA firearm are visible,' a criminal complaint states
Federal prosecutors accuse Ibrahim of bringing his duty weapon and badge to the Capitol grounds and brazenly displaying them, and of illegally climbing on a monument to deliver a 'monologue,' according to charging documents.
Photos appear to show Ibrahim displaying his badge and weapon outside the Capitol, but the FBI alleged that he told investigators that the weapon and credentials were 'never exposed' during the riot 'that I know of'.
'They labeled me a domestic terrorist, I just want to see peace and unity,' Ibrahim said in the new interview.
'Because I've seen it in foreign countries, between Sunni and Shia, open violence in the streets. It's a sad and scary thing,' he said, referring to opposing religious factions in the Muslim world.
'I'm afraid that if this division and dehumanizing continues, that's where America is headed, and I pray that never happens,' Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim is charged with making false statements to federal agents, entering restricted grounds with a firearm, injuring or climbing on a statue, and carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds.
Ibrahim is charged with illegally climbing on a monument to deliver a 'monologue'
'They labeled me a domestic terrorist, I just want to see peace and unity,' Ibrahim said in the new interview
The episode also features interviews with two women whose actions on January 6 generated public controversy, though neither has been criminally charged.
Emily Grace Rainey was serving as an Army captain assigned to the 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg when she led a group of 100 members of Moore County Citizens for Freedom, which describes itself online as a nonpartisan network promoting conservative values, to the Washington rally to "stand against election fraud" and support Trump.
Rainey says the group consisted mostly of 'grandmothers,' but that she was accused of leading an armed 'militia' to the Capitol, which she insists she never entered.
The Pentagon launched an investigation into Rainey's actions and she submitted her resignation in September, saying she was pressured out after her clearance was revoked.
'I went and I saw my commander in chief at my nation's capital, took a hundred of my friends, and they ostensibly ruined my career had I wanted to stay,' she said.
Rainey claimed in the interview with Carlson that the events of January 6 could have been a 'false flag', or a conspiracy on the left to make Trump's supporters look bad.
'It is my opinion that false flags have happened in this country, one of which may have been January 6,' said Rainey. 'If that was an insurrection, it was the most poorly conducted insurrection ever'
Emily Grace Rainey was serving as an Army captain assigned to the 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg when she led a group of 100 to Trump's rally
The Pentagon launched an investigation into Rainey's actions and she submitted her resignation in September. She now claims the riot was a possible 'false flag'
'The term extremism is being kept nebulous for a reason,' she said in the interview. 'It's so that there is grey area and they can use the term as they like against the people that they like to use it against. Me, for example.'
Referring to her training as a psychological warfare officer, Rainey painted a dark picture of the crackdown on domestic extremism following the deadly riot.
'Fear is one of the biggest tactics used in psychological operations. So what we're seeing is fear being used to manipulate the military, to see millions of Americans as domestic terrorists, and to try to just silence people,' she said.
'There is a fear that if you are conservative, and you are in the military, that you will be singled out, that you'll be looked at in suspicion, that your clearance will be revoked.'
'It cannot be overstated how dangerous it is, targeting your political opponents and purging them out of the one place were you are legally allowed to have a gun and use it, government ordered use of weapons,' added Rainey.
A third interview segment in the episode featured Alaska couple Paul and Marilyn Hueper, whose home was raided by the FBI in a bizarre apparent case of mistaken identity.
In late April, the FBI raided their home in Homer seeking 'Nancy Pelosi's laptop,' which they didn't find, based on a photo they believed depicted Marilyn in the Capitol.
Marilyn Hueper's (above) home was raided by the FBI in a bizarre apparent case of mistaken identity based on a photo that depicted someone else
Heuper (left) said it was clear the photo of the Capitol suspect (right) showed someone else. Another woman was eventually identified and charged as the suspect
MAGA supporters battle with riot cops outside Capitol in DC
'They cuffed me, put my hands behind my back, put me in a chair,' recalled Marylin. 'It never occurred to me that they would actually think we had anything to do with anything inside the Capitol, because we never made it inside the Capitol.
The Hueper's say that they attended Trump's rally on January 6, but subsequently got lost in DC and never entered the Capitol. 'Didn't feel right, we chose not to,' explained Paul.
Another woman in New York, apparently the one seen in the image from the Capitol, was later arrested and charged in connection with the stolen laptop. The Huepers have never been charged following the FBI search of their home.
So far nearly 700 people have been charged in connection with the January 6 riot.
Carlson's documentary generated strong reaction even before its first episode was streamed in full on Monday.
Critics of Carlson demanded that the show not be aired, accusing the Fox News host of 'incitement.'
Alexander Vindman, the former Army officer who testified during the impeachment hearings against Trump, said of Carlson: 'He is an anarchist; an arsonist of American democracy.
'How is this different than yelling fire in a crowded theater? Carlson is attempting to incite a riotous mob.
'He should be [censored]. I’d like to hear the arguments for/against this being protected speech.'
Lindsey Simmons, a candidate for the US Congress, tweeted: 'The freedom of speech is not absolute. it can be restricted where it incites imminent lawless action.
'Tucker Carlson and Fox News are creating propaganda to incite a Civil War.
'At some point we must use the legal tools available to us before it is too late.'
CNN host Anderson Cooper blasted Fox News and the chairman of its parent company Fox Corporation, Rupert Murdoch.
'This isn't about Tucker Carlson,' Cooper said.
'It's about a media empire that pumps poison into the ecosystem that has violent and deadly consequences.'
A pro-Democratic Party account on Twitter compared Carlson to Infowars' Alex Jones, who has spread conspiracy theories about mass shootings.
'Three years ago, this is the kind of dangerous junk that got Alex Jones deplatformed from every major social platform,' tweeted the account known as Sleeping Giants.
'Today, it's the norm on Fox News, which STILL has major advertisers and is carried by every major cable company into the homes of millions.'
Jared Holt also made the comparison to Jones, tweeting: 'Alex Jones doesn't need to exist any more because the Murdoch family has filled that spot and tossed god knows how much money behind it.'
Oliver Darcy, a media reporter for CNN, added: 'It is seriously difficult at this point to see much daylight between Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones.'
Darcy tweeted: 'Make no mistake, Tucker is the face of Fox News. It's not just him engaging in this dishonest lunacy.
'It's the network, led by Suzanne Scott & Rupert/Lachlan Murdoch, that is responsible for green lighting and mainlining this 1/6 trutherism.
'They know exactly what they're doing.'
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Charlie Warzel also tweeted that that the country's 'most popular cable news personality' is 'putting out...basically...infowars.'
Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump and blamed the former president for inciting the rioters on January 6, tweeted: 'It appears that @FoxNews is giving @TuckerCarlson a platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on January 6. As @FoxNews knows, the election wasn’t stolen and January 6 was not a "false flag" operation.'
In her tweet, Cheney tagged Fox executives including Murdoch, Jay Wallace, and Suzanne Scott. She also tagged former House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Another anti-Trump Republican, outgoing Congressman Adam Kinzinger, tweeted: 'Anyone working for @FoxNews must speak out.
'This is disgusting. It appears @foxnews isn’t even pretending anymore.'
Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, posted a letter he wrote to Fox News about Carlson's documentary, which he referred to in quotes.
Greenblatt wrote that Carlson's series is 'nothing short of absurd and it will continue to fan the flames of extremists and conspiracy theorists.'
'This is dangerous, and it's no surprise that Tucker Carlson is leading the charge bringing fringe ideas to the masses.'
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