Oath Keepers trial continues with video from inside the U.S. Capitol - The Washington Post

The 3rd week of the government’s lawsuit successful the seditious conspiracy proceedings of Rhodes, Meggs and 3 different associates culminated successful a minute-by-minute relationship of the Oath Keepers’ actions connected Jan. 6 that prosecutors accidental shows however the group’s leaders plotted “rebellion” beforehand, greenlit unit portion astatine the Capitol and appeared to coordinate their actions with different figures pushing to subvert the results of the 2020 statesmanlike election.

Whitney Drew, a erstwhile FBI counterterrorism peculiar cause with acquisition successful Army intelligence, testified arsenic prosecutors deployed audio, video and computers animations to springiness jurors an immersive way done the defendants’ actions that day.

Prosecutors mined worldly from Kellye SoRelle, described successful tribunal arsenic some an Oath Keepers lawyer and Rhodes’s girlfriend. SoRelle, who was recently charged with obstructing the ballot count, started a four-minute agelong Facebook livestream astatine the eastbound broadside of the Capitol astatine 2:12 p.m. conscionable arsenic a assemblage began moving up the steps. Proud Boys simultaneously broke into the building connected the westbound side, according to tribunal records, and immoderate moved to the east.

“This is what happens erstwhile the radical are pissed and erstwhile they emergence up,” SoRelle told followers successful a video played for jurors. “That’s however you instrumentality your authorities back. You virtually instrumentality it back.”

One infinitesimal aft SoRelle’s video ended, a radical of Oath Keepers led by Meggs arrived adjacent wherever SoRelle was standing, Drew testified. Rhodes was besides approaching, aft telling an encrypted Oath Keepers enactment chat that it was Trump supporters, not leftist agitators, liable for the action. He likened the assemblage of “pissed disconnected patriots” to “the Sons of Liberty,” American colonists who carried retired the Boston Tea Party.

SoRelle had earlier pushed backmost connected an Oath Keepers subordinate who expressed interest astir the mob breaking down barriers, saying she had a connection from Rhodes: “We are acting similar founding fathers, can’t basal down.”

At 2:28 p.m., Rhodes wrote, “Back doorway of the Capitol,” and sent it to an encrypted chat group that included Tarrio, Trump confidant Roger Stone, Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander and right-wing speech amusement big Alex Jones, according to prosecutors. Drew did not elaborate connected that connection, but prosecutors person repeatedly highlighted Rhodes’s messages to the “Friends of Stone” chat group, which was besides an involvement of the House committee investigating Jan. 6. By the clip Rhodes had sent that message, Proud Boys had already made their mode from the westbound beforehand of the Capitol to the east, some wrong and extracurricular the building, according to tribunal records.

Minutes later, Rhodes messaged a radical of Oath Keepers that radical were “pounding connected the doors,” according to texts shown successful court. Then helium called Meggs and Michael Greene, charged separately and described successful tribunal arsenic the Oath Keepers’ Jan. 6 operations leader. The 3 spoke by league telephone for conscionable implicit a minute.

The contents of the 2:32 p.m. telephone were not disposable to investigators, but Drew testified that astatine that infinitesimal during the speech Meggs began starring his Oath Keepers radical successful single-file “stack” enactment up the stairs. The doors were forced unfastened from the wrong 5 minutes later, and the archetypal subordinate of the Oath Keepers entered with a monolithic crowd.

Inside the building, suspect Jessica Watkins of Ohio narrated their advancement connected a walkie-talkie benignant telephone application.

“We are successful the mezzanine. We are successful the main dome close now. We are rocking it,” she said, portion others with her chimed successful that they had taken over, according to the messages played successful court.

“Were storming the Capitol,” Greene wrote to an chartless idiosyncratic astatine 3:06 p.m.

Drew besides showed jurors caller messages predating Jan. 6 involving Rhodes, SoRelle and different Oath Keepers successful which Rhodes explicitly called for unit to forestall Joe Biden from taking office. Rhodes has argued those plans were lone successful mentation for the anticipation that President Trump would deputize his radical arsenic a ineligible militia nether the Insurrection Act. But successful a Dec. 10 substance message, Rhodes said that if Trump did not act, “we volition person to emergence up successful insurrection (rebellion).”

Green and SoRelle person pleaded not guilty; Alexander, Jones and Stone are not charged with immoderate crimes.

Rhodes’s defence lawyer James Lee Bright argued that the defendants’ words were specified “rhetoric and bombast,” and that the government’s allegations of transgression intent were undercut by indications that the Oath Keepers were blundering astir the Capitol grounds, confused and incapable to link by telephone oregon successful person. Some substance messages were not received until hours aboriginal due to the fact that of mediocre compartment reception. Rhodes astatine 1 constituent inaccurately described himself arsenic connected the southbound broadside of the Capitol; 1 Oath Keeper mislaid way of his car.

“All these radical from retired of municipality had nary hint wherever they are,” Bright said. “Kind of hard to springiness guidance to your troops erstwhile you don’t cognize wherever they are.”

Inside the Capitol, video played successful tribunal showed that the radical of Oath Keepers connected proceedings did not destruct spot oregon battle officers, though jurors saw them pushing against riot constabulary guarding the Senate chamber.

While “Quick Reaction Force” teams were waiting extracurricular D.C. with firearms, Bright emphasized that they were “never called in” by Rhodes and established during cross-examination that the Oath Keepers were not charged with violating immoderate firearms laws.

“So the equipped rebellion was unarmed?” Bright asked FBI Special Agent Sylvia Hilgeman.

Hilgeman replied, “The equipped rebellion wasn’t over.”