“There was nary plan,” said Stanley Woodward, the defence lawyer for Kelly Meggs, person of the Florida Oath Keepers, who is charged alongside Rhodes and 3 different defendants.
“I won’t inquire you to hold with Mr. Meggs’ governmental beliefs, his penchant for the president of the United States,” Woodward continued. “I volition inquire you to read, to perceive the grounds successful this lawsuit … and to determine whether the grounds was a plan, a scheme, thing nefarious oregon whether, arsenic others person observed, they correspond hyperbole, governmental rhetoric.”
The lawsuit against the Oath Keepers is 1 of the astir important to look from the probe of the Jan. 6 onslaught connected the Capitol, which has led to astir 900 arrests and a sweeping nationwide probe that the Justice Department has called the largest successful American history. Although hundreds of those charged look felony charges for attempting to disrupt legislature proceedings, lone the leaders of the Oath Keepers and the far-right Proud Boys look seditious conspiracy charges. Prosecutors accidental some groups orchestrated plots to halt the transportation of powerfulness by force.
Prosecutors spent each of October laying retired a lawsuit that Rhodes and Meggs — on with Kenneth Harrelson of Florida, Jessica Watkins of Ohio and Thomas Caldwell of Virginia — amassed an arsenal of firearms successful Arlington, Va., and prepared to violently forestall Biden from taking office.
The 5 co-defendants joined radical chats and calls — immoderate of which were recorded and provided to investigators — discussing their tendency to support Trump successful power, their anticipation that Trump would designate the Oath Keepers arsenic a federalized militia to assistance clasp power, and their anticipation of a bloody civilian warfare if helium didn’t. Prosecutors besides centered their lawsuit connected thousands of substance messages, Signal chats and societal media messages that showed the defendants expressing progressively menacing views astir their efforts to support Trump successful power, by unit if necessary.
Nearly 2 twelve members of the group, including Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson, joined the mob that breached the Capitol connected Jan. 6 — with Meggs aboriginal telling an subordinate helium had searched for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And aft that date, galore of them deleted scores of messages that were lone recovered by investigators aft seizing the phones of different radical targeted arsenic co-conspirators.
But defence attorneys accidental those backstage messages amounted to “talk” among associates, not backed up by thing the radical members really did. They ne'er brought their firearms into Washington, the attorneys person noted. Though immoderate of them had hoped Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act — a 19th-Century statute they thought empowered Trump to state the Oath Keepers a state-sanctioned militia to assistance him stay successful powerfulness — nary bid ever came, they noted.
In the days starring up to Jan. 6, determination were nary messages “about equipped insurrection, astir attacking instrumentality enforcement officers, invading oregon occupying the Capitol, attacking legislature staff, preventing the peaceful transportation of power,” contended Brad Geyer, Harrelson’s attorney. There’s nary evidence, helium added, that Rhodes ever ordered immoderate members of the radical to spell wrong the gathering oregon question to disrupt Congress that day.
As Jan. 6 approached, the Oath Keepers intensified their usage of encrypted messaging apps to pass astir their plans, mixing conversations astir the predetermination results with logistical discussions astir providing information astatine Trump’s rally. Rhodes, an subordinate of Trump allies Roger Stone and Alex Jones, had agreed to supply information for the 2 men and different speakers.
Defense attorneys accidental those idiosyncratic information details were the lone crushed the Oath Keepers agreed to question to Washington, with their beingness astatine the Capitol an outgrowth of the march by the ample crowd. The weapons they amassed astatine a Comfort Inn successful Arlington were a communal diagnostic of galore different information operations performed by Oath Keepers astatine ample protests and events for years, they added.
The Oath Keepers “never caused a disturbance astatine immoderate lawsuit successful which they provided information services,” argued Harrelson’s attorney, Brad Geyer.
The archetypal defence witness, Watkins’ fiancé, Montana Siniff, told jurors that Watkins ne'er had immoderate program to onslaught the Capitol oregon effort to forestall Biden from taking power. He said helium viewed Watkins’ travel to Washington for the Jan. 6 rally arsenic unconcerning, since helium expected she would beryllium performing a information role. Had helium understood the travel to beryllium astir subverting the transportation of power, helium said, helium would person tried to forestall her from going.
Siniff added that helium didn’t spell due to the fact that helium didn’t person immoderate involvement successful performing information and had to thin to his barroom concern successful Ohio.
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