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☆ Oath Keeper saw Jan. 6 storming of U.S. Capitol as 'Bastille' moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

On Jan. 6, 2021, Young said he entered the U.S. Capitol with a group of fellow Oath Keepers with the aim of trying to disrupt proceedings to certify Biden's win. Young's testimony was the latest evidence presented by federal prosecutors in the criminal trial against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and his four co-defendants - Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs. Young is the second Oath Keeper member so far to testify for the government after pleading guilty, in the hopes of winning a reduced prison sentence. I haven’t heard you articulate an actual agreement with anybody to commit a crime,” Rhodes' attorney, James Lee Bright, said. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The criminal trial of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers right-wing militia group, and four associates over their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was delayed on Monday after he tested positive for COVID-19. Rhodes remains in "total isolation" in jail, his lawyers said. Prosecutors have said the Oath Keepers planned a "quick reaction force" of armed members who waited at a hotel in northern Virginia with firearms they could transport across the Potomac River into Washington if called upon. Defense attorney Edward Tarpley said he has been unable to confer with Rhodes because the defendant remains isolated and cannot accept phone calls. It remained unclear if the jail could make such an accommodation or if Mehta would be willing to allow it.

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A Florida member of the far-right Oath Keepers testified on Tuesday that he had been ready to use violence to stop the U.S. Congress from certifying Republican Donald Trump's election defeat, saying he wanted lawmakers to "be afraid." They will act out of charity, and they will act out of fear, too ... maybe they would be scared into doing the right thing," Dolan said. On Jan. 6, some of the group's members, including Dolan, were among the thousands of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, battling police and sending members of Congress scrambling for cover. Dolan testified that he brought his assault-style rifle and a pistol with him from Florida, and stashed them in a Virginia hotel. In that event, he said, he believed Oath Keepers "would be fighting with pro-Trump forces against basically pro-Biden forces."

Share this -Link copiedCommittee votes to subpoena Trump The committee voted on Thursday unanimously to subpoena Trump. Trump would not be the first president to be subpoenaed, nor would he be the first former president subpoenaed by Congress. "Even before the networks called the race for President Biden on Nov. 7th, his chances of pulling out a victory were virtually nonexistent, and President Trump knew it," Kinzinger said. “At times, President Trump acknowledged the reality of his loss. “What did President Trump know?

That's based on a Secret Service email from 9:09 a.m. "The head of the President’s Secret Service protective detail, Robert Engel, was specifically aware of the large crowds outside the magnetometers," Schiff said. A Secret Service report at 7:58 a.m. said, "Some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks." On Dec. 26, a Secret Service field office relayed a tip that had been received by the FBI, Schiff said. Trump would not be the first president to be subpoenaed, nor would he be the first former president subpoenaed by Congress.

☆ An Oath Keeper admitted the group stockpiled a stash of guns in a Virginia hotel room before the Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cummings told the jury the stash of guns in that room rivaled what he saw in the military. Cummings told the jury he kept the gun in a collective Oath Keepers' weapons stash at a Virginia hotel room instead of bringing it into DC. Prosecutors say the gun stash was part of the Oath Keepers' plan to arm a "quick reaction force," per NBC News. Several other Oath Keepers — including Brian Ulrich, Joshua James, and William Todd Wilson — have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. The Oath Keepers initially branded its members as defenders of the Constitution.

The Oath Keeper, Terry Cummings, testified that there were "a lot of firearms cases" in the hotel room when he dropped off his weapon at the Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 5, 2021. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is on trial for seditious conspiracy alongside four other Oath Keeper associates: Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell. Another Oath Keeper previously told the court that Rhodes tried unsuccessfully to reach Trump on the night of Jan. 6. He said he was aware of the strict gun laws in Washington, D.C., and saw no Oath Keepers carrying guns in the city on the day of the riot. Under cross examination, Cummings said multiple times that he never heard of any plans for the Oath Keepers to enter the Capitol.

Cummings took the witness stand in the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four co-defendants - Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs. The five are accused of conspiring to try to keep Republican President Donald Trump in power after he had lost the 2020 election. A pro-Trump mob charged into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and violently attacked police, but failed to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden's victory. Prosecutors have said some of the Oath Keepers were among the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building after he gave a speech repeating his false claims that the election had been stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. The government also alleges the Oath Keepers organized a so-called "quick reaction force" of armed members who were waiting across the Potomac River in Virginia if called upon.

- Nov. 7, 2020 text message from Rhodes to a group of Oath Keepers. - Nov. 7, 2020 in a text message from Rhodes to a group of Oath Keepers. - Jan. 7, 2021 Facebook message from Thomas Caldwell to Donovan Crowl, an Oath Keeper charged in a separate criminal case. - Stewart Rhodes in a December 2020 text discussing logistics ahead of Jan. 6 with a group of Oath Keepers. Prepare your mind, body, spirit," Stewart Rhodes, in a Nov. 5, 2020 text to a group of Oath Keepers.

☆ FBI agent who probed Oath Keepers' role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot to testify in trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - An FBI agent will testify on Tuesday in the trial of the founder of the anti-government Oath Keepers group and four others accused of plotting to use force on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory. FBI Special Agent Byron Cody will resume testifying about evidence the government gathered for the case, including a series of inflammatory texts, speeches and online posts by Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. A pro-Trump mob charged into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and attacked police, but failed to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden's victory. Prosecutors this week are expected to call two more FBI agents to testify in the trial, as well as Ernest Hancock, an Arizona-based podcaster. Rhodes is expected to take the stand in his own defense later in the trial.

☆ Stewart Rhodes claimed Secret Service contact months before Jan. 6 attack, former Oath Keeper testifies
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Daniel Barnes | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Former Oath Keepers member John Zimmerman testified that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told him he had a contact in the Secret Service and that he heard Rhodes talking with someone he believed to be a member of the Secret Service in September 2020, a bit over three months before the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes got on the phone with the unknown person to ask about “parameters” the Oath Keepers could operate under during the rally, Zimmerman said. He said Oath Keepers attended the rally to escort attendees from the rally location to their vehicles. “From the questions Stewart — Mr. Rhodes — was asking, it sounded like it could’ve been” a Secret Service agent, Zimmerman said. Prosecutors have said Rhodes' references to the Insurrection Act in connection with Jan. 6 were nothing more than "cover" for the Oath Keepers plot.

☆ A cop put on a MAGA hat to save fellow officers on Jan. 6 – and an Oath Keeper helped
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +18 min

“Escorted!”The man escorting them, with the bullhorn in the Eddie Bauer jacket, was a member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization. Three other Oath Keepers — Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson — have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Johnson wasn’t aware that Nichols was an Oath Keeper, nor of who the Oath Keepers were, his lawyer said. ‘They’re being scapegoated’The Oath Keepers charged in the seditious conspiracy, according to the government’s evidence, came prepared on Jan. 6. The judge overseeing the Oath Keepers case said that the evidence can be introduced only if the defendants witnessed it directly.

Jury selection is scheduled to get underway Tuesday for the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the right-wing militia group charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The biggest charge, seditious conspiracy — trying “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States” — carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. “They were not there to storm the Capitol, to stop the certification, to take over the Government,” Rhodes’ lawyers argued in court papers. Prosecutors said Rhodes helped organize “quick reaction forces,” some of them at a hotel in nearby Virginia. The pool will start to be whittled down Tuesday as potential jurors face questions from government prosecutors and lawyers for the defendants.

Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes uses a radio as he departs with volunteers from a rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. October 10, 2019. In addition, the defendants who physically entered the Capitol building - Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson - are charged with property destruction. The Oath Keepers is an anti-government militia whose membership includes current and former U.S. military and law enforcement personnel. Dozens of members or associates of the Oath Keepers have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. Another four Oath Keeper defendants accused of seditious conspiracy will go to trial on Nov. 29.

☆ Oath Keepers on trial: A high-stakes seditious conspiracy case could reveal new details about plotting for Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Jury selection is set to start in the trial of five Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy. Oath Keepers plan to argue they were waiting on January 6 for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. "We aren't getting through this without a civil war," Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes wrote on November 5, 2020, according to court records. On Tuesday, jury selection began in the trial of Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers members confronting the most serious charges to date in a prosecution stemming from the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. "We must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election," Rhodes wrote on November 7, referring to Slobodan Milošević.

☆ Members of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, are asking for a change of venue before their upcoming sedition trial, citing the 'incessant negative publicity' of Jan. 6 defendants
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Attorneys for a group of Oath Keepers are asking for a change of venue in their federal sedition trial for the Jan. 6 attack. The group of Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, argued that they cannot receive a fair trial in DC. Attorneys for the group decried the "incessant negative publicity regarding J6 defendants." "Most recently, the 'Oath Keepers' have been all over the news," attorneys said in the court filing obtained by Insider, decrying the "incessant negative publicity regarding J6 defendants." The House committee recently released audio recordings from a walkie-talkie app that the Oath Keepers used while inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The Oath Keepers is an anti-government militia whose membership includes current and former U.S. military and law enforcement personnel. As lawmakers met on Jan. 6 to certify Biden's election victory, some Oath Keepers stormed into the Capitol building, clad in paramilitary gear. The Justice Department's last attempt to prosecute a seditious conspiracy case was in 2010, when it charged members of a Michigan militia called the Hutaree. Prosecutors are expected to use video clips from the Jan. 6 attack, text messages and audio recordings of some of the Oath Keepers defendants. Four other Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go on trial on Nov. 29.

Police clear the U.S. Capitol Building with tear gas as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather outside, in Washington, U.S. January 6, 2021. He is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers. Caldwell has denied he was a member of the Oath Keepers but prosecutors have said he has strong ties to the group. JESSICA WATKINSWatkins, 40, of Woodstock, Ohio, led the Ohio team of Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the indictment. PREVIOUS DEFENDANTSThree other Oath Keepers defendants - Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson - pleaded guilty this year to engaging in seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack.

☆ How Oath Keepers Are Accused of Plotting to Storm the Capitol
▼ + stars: | 2022-01-19 | by ( Denise Lu | Eleanor Lutz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

The chat group included Kelly Meggs — the head of the Florida chapter of Oath Keepers — and others. He later published the plan of action on the Oath Keepers’ website. section chief, contacted Mr. Rhodes to coordinate on an upcoming “op” and to provide details of a reconnaissance trip he took to Washington. weapons Mr. Rhodes purchased about $7,000 worth of firearm-related equipment and night-vision devices and shipped the items to Virginia. Several other people associated with the Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, but those charged with sedition are not among them.

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