Following the U.S. Capitol riot, CNN promoted the work of “journalist” John Sullivan despite him lacking any credentials and ultimately being arrested for his role in inciting the deadly protests.
CNN bought into Sullivan’s claims he attended the January 6th rally to “record” the events that transpired – despite affidavits revealing he incited violence by exclaiming “we gotta get this shit burned” while inside the building and “we did this together” after breaching the last barricade before entering
Anderson Cooper hosted Sullivan as a guest on his show to describe the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, as Sullivan had managed to film the incident while inside the Capitol.
Cooper allowed Sullivan to peddle claims that he was inside the Capitol solely to document the exchanges between rioters and police.
“I don’t want to see people get hurt unnecessarily, especially when there should be like a better way to go about it, so I told everybody they’re willing to go peacefully just put down their arms,” Sullivan said unopposed while on air.
While Cooper introduced Sullivan as a “left-wing activist,” the CNN host omitted Sullivan’s ties to the “anti-fascist” movement and history of hardcore, anti-Trump activism.
While speaking outside the White House, Sullivan can be heard in August 2020 making calls to “rip Trump out of that office” and threatening to “get that motherfucker”:
“We gotta fucking rip Trump out of that office right over there, fucking pull him out that shit. Nah, nah we ain’t about fucking waiting till the next election, we about to get that mother fucker. I ain’t about that shit because you know what time it is? I want y’all to repeat after me. It’s time for a revolution. It’s time for a revolution. It’s time for a revolution.”
