John Sullivan Popular Books

John Sullivan Biography & Facts

John Earle Sullivan (born July 18, 1994), also known as Activist John, is an American political activist and self-identified photojournalist who participated in the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack. In November 2023, he was convicted by a jury of felony obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, and five misdemeanors. Before the January 6 attack, Sullivan organized and participated in protests relating to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, though a few other BLM organizers explicitly disavowed him, even expelling Sullivan from rallies and warning fellow activists to avoid associating with Sullivan. On January 6, Sullivan entered the Capitol wearing Trump/MAGA hat and attire and broke a window. Using a bullhorn, he repeatedly shouted encouragement to fellow rioters. Sullivan captured footage of the attack, his own interactions with law enforcement, and the shooting of Ashli Babbitt. Following Sullivan's participation in the Capitol attack, Rudy Giuliani accused Sullivan of being affiliated with Antifa. By May 2021, Sullivan was facing eight federal charges for his involvement in the January 6 events. Early life and family Sullivan was adopted into a conservative Latter-Day Saint family. His father, John Sullivan Sr., was a lieutenant colonel in the US Army. Sullivan has three younger brothers. Sullivan grew up in Stafford, Virginia. Around 2013, the family moved to Utah. After graduating from high school, Sullivan applied to be a police officer. Sullivan got involved in speed skating and in 2016, Sullivan was featured in a commercial blog post on Uber's site, describing him as "searching for a way to earn money that fit with his busy training schedule". Sullivan participated in the 2018 Olympic trials but failed to qualify; Despite this, he has claimed to have "competed in the 2018 Olympic Games". Activism prior to the 2021 Capitol attack In June 2020, Sullivan began to attend Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. According to Lex Scott, the founder of Black Lives Matter-Utah, none of the activists knew him before this time. Civilized Awakening and Insurgence USA Conservative activist James Sullivan, John's brother, reports that John was conservative "until recently". James Sullivan founded "Civilized Awakening", part of the greater far-right Patriot movement. In June 2020, John Sullivan founded "Insurgence USA", a group participating in protests against police violence. Sullivan was accused of exploiting the racial justice movement for self-gain. The Salt Lake Tribune observed that Sullivan had been selling merchandise and indulging in self-promotion on many websites; his Insurgence USA website sells protest-related gear, such as black clothing, gloves, and gas masks, branded "bloc gear collective". Car protest, shooting and arrest On June 29, 2020, Sullivan led his first protest event, in Provo, Utah. BLM leader Lex Scott recalled: "His very first protest he held was the one someone got shot". The event was a counter-protest against a pro-police event where a Back the Blue group drove vehicles driving around the Provo police station. Meanwhile, Sullivan and others organized a counter-protest blocking vehicles and interfering with traffic on a busy street. One man affiliated with Sullivan, Jesse Taggart, was charged with attempted murder for shooting and injuring a driver who had slowly moved through the crowd of protestors. The shooting victim was not affiliated with either protest group. Sullivan was arrested and charged with rioting, making a threat of violence and criminal mischief. According to a police affidavit, Sullivan damaged vehicles and cooperated with Insurgence USA to recruit protesters for a protest. Sullivan indicated that he thought the driver Taggart shot was trying to run over protesters, a claim police disputed based on video evidence of the event. Ties to Proud Boys Sullivan organized events in Provo, Utah, that were controversial with BLM. Sullivan experienced greater skepticism after a July 1, 2020, event where he invited speeches from the Proud Boys, an American far-right, neo-fascist organization that promotes and engages in political violence. Sullivan's close relationship with the Proud Boys led to BLM activists refusing to work with him. Sullivan later got his group firearms training. On September 26, Sullivan's brother James had addressed a Proud Boys rally in Portland on behalf of James's far-right group Civilized Awakening. Criticism for armed protest On July 22, 2020, Sullivan held a solo, armed protest at the Utah State Capitol, carrying an AR-15. The protest lasted a few hours, during which he was confronted by twenty armed men from Utah Citizens' Alarm. As he began carrying assault rifles to protest, this invited hostility from both the right and the left. In August 2020, Sullivan was filmed giving a speech outside the US Capitol. Sullivan spoke of "burning this shit down" and told the crowd "we gotta rip Trump out of that office right over there" while pointing to the White House; he added "we ain't fucking waiting til the next election". Lex Scott said that Sullivan seemed to have "a death wish" as he thought it would be "cool, or amazing, if he was killed at a protest and it started a revolution". She has also denied Sullivan is a member of BLM-Utah and expressed suspicions of his seeking fame, adding he never attended any BLM meetings nor worked alongside them to advance their agenda. Work with Jade Sacker According to James Sullivan, by October 2020, he and his brother John were subjects of a documentary being filmed by Jade Sacker. Sacker reportedly used two teams to document the brothers' efforts. Sacker would later accompany John Sullivan into the Capitol on January 6. Denounced and expelled An activist from Portland warned people not to trust him, after he managed to get local activists arrested in September 2020 by leading them down a wrong route and into a police kettle; Sullivan was widely-suspected of being a double agent working for law enforcement. In Signal chat groups, Sullivan would use various sock puppet accounts to create the illusion that others were defending the reputation of John Sullivan. Labor activist Talia Jane said Sullivan is "reviled throughout the activist space". On September 16, James Sullivan and Civilized Awakening held a counterprotest against BLM. James brought a bodyguard to a BLM protest; that individual was arrested on charges of brandishing a firearm. On November 26, 2020, Seattle activists published a memo accusing John Sullivan of being an agent provocateur seeking to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement: "John has been kicked from the #SaltLakeCity and #Portland protest scenes due to alarming behaviors including grifting/profiteering, self-promotion/clout chasing, sabotage of community actions, threats of violence, and — maybe most disturbingly — ties to the far-right ... John's brother, James, is the co-founder of a pro-Trump .... Discover the John Sullivan popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Sullivan books.