Oath Keepers leader tells jury he never wanted his group in the Capitol on Jan. 6

2 years ago 45

Prosecutors volition person their archetypal accidental to cross-examine Rhodes connected Monday afternoon, erstwhile they’ll effort to undercut the lawsuit helium has made to make uncertainty successful the jurors’ minds.

Rhodes contended that helium spent the greeting of Jan. 6 astatine a hotel, traveling to the Capitol lone aft helium had heard that the barricades had been breached. He described having occupation communicating with allies owed to mediocre compartment service, and that helium had peculiar concerns astir his inability to scope Kelly Meggs, the Florida person of the Oath Keepers and 1 of Rhodes’ co-defendants.

“I didn’t cognize wherever they were,” Rhodes said.

Later that day, Rhodes said, Meggs informed him that helium had brought his squad into the Capitol, thing Rhodes said helium disagreed with and voiced his concerns astir to others astatine the time.

Rhodes said that helium learned lone aft Jan. 6 that different Oath Keeper — Alabama’s Joshua James, who had been guarding longtime Trump state Roger Stone earlier connected that time — had besides taken a radical wrong the Capitol. James, helium said, ne'er mentioned it to him adjacent though they dined unneurotic connected the evening of Jan. 6.

Meggs’ attorney, Stan Woodward, questioned Rhodes astir the assertion that Meggs went “off-mission.”

“We disagree,” Woodward told U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta, who was considering whether to licence cross-examination by co-defendants’ attorneys.

Rhodes said nether questioning from Woodward that “there was nary program to participate the gathering for immoderate purpose” but agreed that determination are “standing orders wrong Oath Keepers to render aesculapian aid” to those successful need.

Rhodes utilized overmuch of his grounds to abstracted his tendency for Trump to stay successful powerfulness from the group’s beingness successful D.C.

He said much than 100 Oath Keepers had traveled to Washington to execute information details and escort Trump supporters from the Ellipse, adjacent the White House, to the Capitol. But that work, helium said, was chiseled from his nationalist calls connected Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and telephone up the Oath Keepers arsenic a state-sanctioned militia, which helium repeatedly said helium believed would person been wrong Trump’s ineligible and law authority.

When they questioned Rhodes, prosecutors indicated they would inquire astir his efforts to present that connection to Trump successful the weeks earlier Jan. 6. During treatment among the lawyers retired of jurors’ earshot, they discussed FBI investigators’ interviews with an unidentified pistillate who donated to the Oath Keepers and had a lad moving astatine the White House. The FBI investigated grounds that Rhodes sought to walk messages to Trump done this interaction lone to larn that the pistillate ne'er passed on his messages.

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