ST. LOUIS — Cardinal fans may know him as the “Rally Runner.” But circles of the internet refer to him as #RedFace45 after he was apparently part of the crowd that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The search for the identity of the so-called Rally Runner took a strange turn this week on cable news when a guest on conservative host Tucker Carlson's show accused him of being a federal agent planted in the crowd to cause trouble.
The Rally Runner, whose real name we don't know, posted in December of 2020 that he was using his stimulus check to travel to Washington D.C. to support Trump and his claims that the election was stolen from him.
"It was flat out stolen and we know it," he posted in a video. "We don't have to be able to prove it."
Hard to mistake in the crowd, the Rally Runner said he was able to force his way to the front of the crowd when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol.
"I'm right of the front of it and got through those doors into the Capitol," he said in a Facebook video posted on Jan. 6. "And that's when reinforcement came, shooting rubber bullets, tear gas, and mace. My face felt like it was on fire.”
Now, nearly a year later, the cable news conspiracy is that the Rally Runner was really a sophisticated secret agent sent to set up Trump supporters by provoking violence.
"Who is this person? Why hasn't he been charged? That's a very simple ask," Carlson asked on his show.
A deep dive on Huffpost.com seems to unravel that theory and just days after Jan. 6, the Rally Runner posted, "It was a confusing moment. Looking back and knowing what I know now I would have not gone!"
As for the Rally Runner's perspective on the cable news version of events, so far, no response to our calls and texts to the numbers he has posted publicly.
5 On Your Side has also reached out to federal prosecutors about possible charges the Cardinal fan might face. This story will be updated when they respond.