Bobby Powell, a veteran journalist and U.S. Marine who became a pivotal witness in the January 6th trials, has passed away from a heart attack, his family confirmed on Friday, September 5, 2025. Powell was a relentless investigator who, in his own words, spent his final years fighting a system he believed was determined to stop him from telling “the whole truth” about the events at the U.S. Capitol.
In a powerful November 8, 2023, interview with Mel Hawley on the Justice in Jeopardy podcast, conducted from a D.C. rooftop with the Capitol in the background, Powell laid out the case he had been trying to make for years. “On January 6th, I was at the Capitol reporting the violence,” he explained, “and recorded two undercover federal agents attacking the building.” He detailed how he captured video of one agent pulling a window from its frame and another using a pole to hold the Columbus doors open, pushing people—including J6 defendant Nancy Barron—inside.
This footage became the centerpiece of his mission. “The interesting thing about these two gentlemen… is that their photographs have never appeared on the FBI’s wanted list,” Powell told Hawley. Despite providing the FBI with 29 minutes of high-definition video just days after the event, he said his evidence was ignored. “All six times that I have offered to [give the FBI all my footage], I have been denied,” he stated, a complaint he formally filed with the Department of Justice Inspector General.
His fight culminated in his testimony for defendants Nancy Barron, Ryan Zink and Rebecca Lavrenz. The experience, however, was one of profound frustration. Powell described how both judges made him swear to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” only to prevent him from doing so.
