Cummings displayed for jurors the AR-15 that helium brought with him and contributed to the weapons stash, arsenic good arsenic a container of ammunition.
Justice Department prosecutors spent overmuch of the time — successful the 2nd week of what’s apt to beryllium a six-week proceedings against Rhodes and 4 co-defendants — revealing encrypted Signal messages betwixt Rhodes and the group’s determination leaders organizing and activating plans to question to Washington connected Jan. 6. Many of those messages described their extremity arsenic preventing President Joe Biden from taking bureau and pressing Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which Rhodes contended would licence the radical to forcibly forestall Congress from certifying the 2020 predetermination results.
“We equipped Americans person 1 bully instrumentality near up our sleeve. It’s the aforesaid 1 Samuel Whitmore [sic] utilized agelong ago, close on with each the different farmers who fired the shots heard circular the world,” Rhodes wrote to Georgia Oath keepers connected Dec. 14, 2020, describing the onset of the American Revolution.
In a Dec. 20, 2020, connection to the aforesaid Signal chat, Georgia Oath Keeper Brian Ulrich — who has since pleaded blameworthy to seditious conspiracy — said lone enactment by Trump would forestall wide unit and death.
“Trump acts present possibly a fewer 100 radicals dice trying to pain down cities,” helium wrote. “Trump sits connected his hands, Biden wins, millions dice resisting the decease of the 1st and 2nd amendment.”
Rhodes and his codefendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, person contended that their travel was chiefly astir providing information to VIP attendees of Trump’s code astatine the White House Ellipse and that their weapons cache was meant to enactment the group’s efforts if thoroughfare unit broke retired with counterprotesters connected Jan. 6. They enactment that they ne'er deployed those weapons into Washington, which has strict weapon laws, adjacent aft a pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol.
Cummings, a subject seasoned who is not charged with immoderate crimes related to Jan. 6, said helium traveled to Washington with Harrelson and Jason Dolan, who pleaded blameworthy past twelvemonth for his Jan. 6-related actions, with the intent of supporting the group’s information details. He recalled gathering the VIP helium was tasked with protecting but said helium couldn’t callback her name, lone that she appeared to beryllium a “Hispanic female.” She remained by the northwest broadside of the Capitol adjacent arsenic members of the Oath Keepers continued to march toward the Capitol.
Cummings said that astatine immoderate constituent arsenic the radical marched toward the Capitol, Meggs informed him that the gathering had been “breached.” He remembered Meggs asking idiosyncratic whether the radical should participate the Capitol.
Cummings near the radical aft utilizing a port-a-potty extracurricular the Capitol and lone reconnected with them aft they regrouped extracurricular the Capitol. He recalled Rhodes shrugging disconnected the determination by constabulary to statesman utilizing teardrop state against rioters.
“Suck it up,” helium recalled Rhodes saying. “It’s conscionable CS gas.”
English (US)