CNN
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Prosecutors on Friday started connecting the disparate threads of 5 alleged Oath Keepers and the way they ready for January 6, 2021, within the ultimate hours of the second week of their trial.
Over the previous two weeks, the federal government has proven a Washington, DC, jury dozens of messages discussing a civil warfare, killing politicians, and the Riot Act as a part of the Justice Division’s historic effort to show that members of the Oath Keepers conspired to cease the peaceable switch of energy from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
The messages, launched by a number of FBI brokers, have helped prosecutors argue that the 5 defendants – Stewart Rhodes, Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell and Kenneth Harrelson – individually turned towards violence within the months and weeks previous the Capitol riot. Rhodes, Meggs, Harrelson, Watkins and Caldwell have all pleaded not responsible.
Now, prosecutors have begun to indicate how the defendants allegedly labored collectively to create a transparent, articulated plan to reverse what they noticed as a stolen election – a key facet of the “seditious conspiracy” cost they’ve introduced in opposition to the group.
On Friday, prosecutors launched proof that Rhodes, Meggs, Harrelson and different Oath Keepers attended three digital conferences the primary week of January 2021. The “planning calls,” as prosecutors referred to as them, lasted as much as two hours and mentioned plans for an armed “fast response drive.”
Meggs and Rhodes started messaging on January 2 about establishing the drive, ultimately selecting staging in lodge rooms rented out by Meggs in Virginia, in response to messages proven by prosecutors.
The 2 mentioned rally factors, road closures and street entry for the short response drive (QRF) into Washington, and, in response to prosecutors, Rhodes talked about reimbursing Meggs for lodge rooms.
Meggs additionally helped coordinate with a bigger group of Oath Keepers making ready to journey to Washington, saying that leaders had a “good name final evening” and that he would “get with (North Carolina) group right this moment and discover our QRF location.”
Caldwell, in response to prosecutors, despatched a minimum of six detailed maps of northern Virginia and Washington, DC, to the alleged chief of the drive, Paul Stamey, who has not been charged.
“And worry not: if you’re getting overwhelmed (I do know that feeling) know that I’ll have exhausting copies of those maps for you and all drivers,” Caldwell allegedly mentioned in an e-mail to Stamey.
Meggs additionally despatched maps to a big Oath Keepers group message created for January 6 planning, together with journey routes the short response drive might take into Washington and rally factors for teams within the nation’s capital.
“1 if by land North aspect of Lincoln Memorial 2 if by sea Nook of west basin and Ohio is a water transport touchdown,” Meggs wrote in a message proven to the jury.
Utilizing cellular phone knowledge, prosecutors confirmed the jury how Caldwell, Meggs, Rhodes, Harrelson, Watkins and a minimum of 5 different Oath Keepers traveled towards Washington between January 1 and 5. Not less than 5 members, together with Meggs and Harrelson, spent the evening of January 4 tenting out collectively, in response to cellular phone knowledge.
Between January 5 and seven, a minimum of 10 members of the Oath Keepers hung out on the Consolation Inn in Ballston, Virginia – the lodge Caldwell advised as the bottom for the drive, in response to telephone knowledge offered by the federal government.
Within the early morning hours of January 6, Rhodes allegedly wrote to the group message of Oath Keeper leaders: “We could have a number of nicely geared up QRFs outdoors DC. And there are various, many others from different teams, who might be watching and ready on the surface in case of worst case situations.”
