US oath keepers, why are they being tried?
2022.11.22 11:49
US oath keepers, why are they being tried?
Budrigannews.com – The trial of five Oath Keepers militia members, who are accused of plotting to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election over Republican then-President Donald Trump, began on Tuesday.
A look at the defendants and the charges they face is provided here.
STEWART RHODES Rhodes, 57, of Granbury, Texas, is a lawyer who graduated from Yale University after serving in the United States Army as a paratrooper.He is the leader and founder of the Oath Keepers, a group that officials in the United States have called anti-government.According to Rhodes, it is a nonpartisan organization whose members, who include current and former members of the armed forces, the police, and emergency services, have pledged to uphold the Constitution.
In an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election, Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of conspiring to prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power.Attempting “to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the government of the United States” is a felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and Rhodes and the other defendants face the rarely prosecuted charge of seditious conspiracy.
Along with the other defendants, he is also facing charges of document tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding.The others, including Rhodes, have denied the charges.
The indictment says that Rhodes started encouraging his Oath Keepers followers to “oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power” in November 2020.Trump has made false claims that widespread voter fraud stole the election from him.
According to the indictment, Rhodes set up a chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal where members planned to go to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Congress was supposed to certify Biden’s victory.According to the indictment, Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on firearms and related equipment before and after January 6.
According to the indictment, he entered restricted Capitol grounds on January 6, instructed Oath Keepers members via text and phone on which positions to take around the building, and continued to plot with co-conspirators after the attack.
Rhodes said in his defense that he never told the group to storm the Capitol and thought it was “stupid” that some of them tried to enter.
According to the indictment, Thomas Caldwell, 68, of Berryville, Virginia, assisted in the coordination of “quick reaction force” teams that were prepared to quickly transport weapons into Washington from outside the city to support operations around the Capitol.
According to the indictment, Caldwell, a retired lieutenant commander in the United States Navy who previously worked for the FBI, went on a reconnaissance trip into Washington in November 2020, selected a hotel in suburban Arlington, Virginia, as the base of operations for the quick reaction force, and mapped routes from the hotel to the Capitol.
According to the indictment, Caldwell and other individuals participated in the Jan. 6 attack by pushing through barricades and climbing stairs to a balcony in a restricted area on the west side of the Capitol Building.
Prosecutors have stated that Caldwell has strong ties to the Oath Keepers, despite his denial that he was a member of the group.
According to the indictment, Kelly Meggs, 53, of Dunnellon, Florida, was the head of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers. On January 6, she led a first group of members into the Capitol.
According to the indictment, Meggs and other Oath Keepers members stormed into the building alongside a mob through a heavy set of doors and marched up the east steps of the Capitol in an organized military fashion. Many of them were dressed in paramilitary gear.
According to the indictment, Keith Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida, assisted Meggs in organizing the Florida Oath Keepers and was a member of the militia group that stormed into the Capitol building.
According to the indictment, these individuals advanced as part of a mob that “pulled violently on the doors,” “assaulted law enforcement officers guarding the doors,” and “threw objects and sprayed chemicals toward the officers and the doors.
“Harrelson and others later pushed toward the Place of Agents chamber looking for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top liberal in Congress, yet didn’t view as her, it said.
According to the indictment, JESSICA WATKINS, 40, of Woodstock, Ohio, led the Ohio Oath Keepers team at the Capitol on January 6.According to the indictment, the veteran of the Afghanistan war rushed into the building with other members and instructed them to push against a line of officers guarding the hallway leading to the Senate chamber. She then fled when officers used a chemical spray, the indictment claims.
Watkins denied planning to storm the building, but she testified to some of the charges against her during the trial.
Due to the damage they caused at the Capitol, Meggs, Harrelson, and Watkins are also facing charges of destroying government property.
Watkins, a transgender woman, has always struggled to fit in, according to her attorney, who told the jury, and her actions that day reflect that.
