Oath Keepers sedition trial: Secret recordings played to jury reveal plans for Jan 6 ‘fight’

Good morning.

We’re following a second day of witness testimony in the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four others tied to the anti-government militia group.

Yesterday’s opening arguments from federal proseutors claimed that the group plotted for weeks to violently obstruct Joe Biden’s presidency.

“They did not go to the Capitol to defend or help,” according to assistant US Attorney Jeff Nestler. “They went to attack.”

FBI testimony on Monday revealed messages sent by Stewart Rhodes to members of the Oath Keepers in the hours after Election Day in 2020, leading up to the group’s plans to assemble at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.

Hours after Election Day, Mr Rhodes allegedly called on his allies to resist a potential Joe Biden victory – which would not be declared until several days later.

“The left, including the Democratic Party … seek our destruction,” he allegedly wrote in a message on the encrypted chat app Signal after 1am on 4 November, just hours after polls had closed.

“We must defeat them,” the message continued. “Even if one of them occupies the White House.”

Two days before Mr Biden’s victory, he wrote: “We must refuse to accept Biden as the legitimate winner ... Call out the fraud and theft. Protect and defend all who are publicly standing against it.”

When Mr Biden was declared the victor, he wrote to a chat group that included Trump ally Roger Stone: “We need to roll. I’m on my way to DC right now with my [Oath Keeper] tactical leaders … to do recon.”

Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against hundreds of people tied to the Capitol attack, but the indictment of Stewart Rhodes and fouth others stands out because it charges them under a rarely used provision of law that can found in the chapter of the US criminal code titled “Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities”.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg explains:

Stewart Rhodes brought unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election to a meeting with Oath Keepers days after Biden was declared the victor, according to recordings of a meeting days after Election Day that was shared with the jury on Tuesday.

He called voter fraud an “insurrection that needed to be suppressed.”

“If the fight comes, let the fight come. Let Antifa go, if they go kinetic on us, then we’ll go kinetic back on them. I’m willing to sacrifice myself for that. Let the fight start there. That would give Trump what he needs,” he said.

He also told the group “don’t make it easy for them to pop you with a conspiracy charge.”

The Oath Keepers on trial for seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol is a fraction of the group, which has a membership that extends across the US and an influential reach within many sectors of public life and and services.

A recently leaked membership list includes the names of hundreds of law enforcement officials, members of the military and elected officials, among others.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told a group in Milwaukee that calling the attack on the US Capitol an “armed insurrection” is “inaccurate.”

He added that rioters showed “us how you can use a flag pole”.

One rioter dragged a police officer and beat him with a flag pole during the attack. Another rioter, a former NYPD officer, charged at police with a flag pole.

Federal prosecutors at the Oath Keepers trial also argue that the group stashed weapons and other supplies with plans for a “quick reaction force”. Texts and group meetings reveal plans for bringing weapons into the capital.

The Justice Department also notes that roughly 84 people have been charged with entering the building with a dangerous or deadly weapon.

In his testimony, FBI special agent Michael Palian shared details about the search of the home of Thomas Caldwell, one of the defendants and a retired US Navy lieutenant commander.

Agents recovered a receipt for a “double barrel pistol” that “is meant to be concealed and look like a cell phone instead of pistol,” according to Mr Palian.

Other evidence included a poster – signed by the Oath Keepers – of Donald Trump standing with an American flag.

But jurors did not see the “death list” found at Mr Caldwell’s Virginia home containing the names of two Georgia election workers – Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss – targeted by the former president and right-wing activists over baseless allegations of vote manipulation in the 2020 election.

Judge Amit Mehta determined in August that while the list is “fairly shocking,” it is also “highly prejudicial and highly inflammatory” and could pose a “real danger” of “inflaming the jury”.

Earlier this year, the election workers testified to the House select committee investigating the attack about the depth of the abuse they faced:

A man who filmed defendants before they entered the Capitol outside the building’s East Rotunda doors and published clips to YouTube wants to invoke his Fifth Amendment right instead of testifying.

Judge Mehta has asked attorneys for the defendants why they object to material. He told attorneys to review the videos over the lunch break.

The videos on Brian Lee’s Restoring Families Internet Network channel are still on YouTube.

The Independent’s Richard Hall spoke with Stewart Rhodes in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Read his republished in-depth piece about the militia leader and insight from experts about the trajectory of far-right anti-government groups and threats posed by groups like the Oath Keepers.

David Fischer, an attorney for defendant Thomas Caldwell, pressed FBI special agent Michael Palian over whether Mr Caldwell was a “member” of the Oath Keepers.

Mr Fischer said his client never paid any membership fees.

“It costs zero dollars to join a gang,” Mr Palian fired back. “You can join a gang without paying anybody.”