Federal authorities have seized roughly $90,000 from a Utah man who sold footage of the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
John Sullivan is accused of entering the Capitol building and participating in the riot, according to court filings. Sullivan’s recording of a confrontation between Capitol Police and the crowd storming the building showed an officer shooting and killing Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to crawl through a broken pane of glass in a hallway connecting to the House chamber.
Sullivan sold the footage to at least six news outlets. He now faces additional charges, according to court filings, bringing the total to eight criminal counts and a weapons charge.
Sullivan’s video shows him wearing a gas mask and tactical gear as he enters the Capitol through a broken window.
At one point in the video, Sullivan enters an office within the Capitol building. He approaches a window and says, “We did this s--t. We took this s--t,” according to court filings.
Sullivan portrayed himself as an independent journalist who was reporting on the chaos, according to court filings, but during the riot he encouraged other participants to “burn” the building and engage in violence.
Court filings also show that he boasted to another witness, “my footage is worth like a million of dollars, millions of dollars.”
Sullivan is one of several Utahns facing charges for their participation in the insurrection, including Brady Knowlton, former Salt Lake City police officer Michael Lee Hardin, Willard Peart and Landon Copleand.
