John Sullivan, in the center of a whirlwind of controversy and contradiction, claims he was acting as a journalist. He recorded 39 minutes of footage both inside and outside of the Capitol that day.
Now, he says, he wants his money back.
The 27-year-old Utahn sold rights to his video from Jan. 6, including an up-close look at Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt as she was shot, to
NBC, CNN and other news outlets for more than $90,000. And the full video he took is still available on
YouTube. But Sullivan tells me the money is gone —
federal authorities deemed Sullivan’s actions to obtain the footage illegal and confiscated the cash from his bank account.
“Do you think it’s easy to sell that footage?” Sullivan asked, toward the end of an hourlong conversation. “Do you think anyone can get ‘90K’ for that?” He says his actions at the Capitol — pushing his way through the hallways with the mob and exclaiming “let’s burn this (expletive) down” in his video — were part of his journalism. Sullivan, however, was not credentialed or representing any publication.
www.foxnews.com
www.deseret.com
nypost.com
