Washington — Leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group labored to "shatter a bedrock of American democracy" once they deliberate and executed a coordinated assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Division alleged in federal court docket Monday, on the primary day of their trial.
"They banded collectively to do no matter was needed, as much as and together with utilizing power," prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler informed a jury on the trial of 5 members or associates of the group charged with seditious conspiracy and different crimes stemming from their alleged involvement within the Capitol breach.
Oath Keepers chief Stewart Rhodes and codefendants Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell had been a part of the group whose objective was to "cease by any means needed the lawful switch of energy, together with the taking on arms in opposition to the US authorities," Nestler stated, throughout the federal government's opening argument.
The defendants are accused of planning their assault on the Capitol way back to November 2020, later amassing weapons and espousing violence with different coconspirators – each charged and uncharged people – and coordinating their actions on the day of the assault.
Nestler walked the jury by way of a abstract of the federal government's case, together with the construction of the Oath Keeper's operation with Rhodes on the helm. Meggs and Harrelson, the prosecutor defined, tag-teamed the group's Florida contingent whereas Watkins spearheaded operations in Ohio, and Caldwell – not a bona fide member of the group – allegedly set into movement their "Fast Response Forces" (QRF), which saved weapons in a Virginia lodge.
Caldwell is accused of planning to make use of a ship to move these weapons into Washington, D.C. That decision to motion by no means got here, in line with the federal government, and through his personal opening argument, Caldwell's legal professional David Fischer denounced the characterization as "hogwash."
"That is the most important bait and change within the historical past of the American justice system," Fischer argued, "the QRF was not within the remotest method" designed to assault Capitol, however to offer well being and security help if wanted.
On Jan. 6 itself, prosecutors alleged, Rhodes and his conspirators traveled to the Capitol, prepared to make use of "the coaching, information and expertise" a lot of them gained throughout navy to plot to overthrow the federal government. Many members of the Oath Keepers group are navy veterans.
Nestler stated that the group's requires "civil conflict" and refusals to simply accept Biden because the "respectable winner" of the 2020 presidential election got here to a head because the Capitol was underneath assault. He argued the proof at trial will present that they had been ready for Trump to invoke the Rebel Act, a Civil Battle-era regulation that may have referred to as on a militia of armed residents to oppose Congress' work.
"He must know that if he fails to behave, then we'll," Rhodes is accused of writing concerning the former president.
Rhodes' legal professional Phillip Linder stated in his opening argument on Monday that Rhodes and his associates had been there to offer help and safety to high-profile attendees of rallies in help of the previous president, a protection Fischer and Watkins' legal professional, Jonathan Crisp, each reiterated.
Textual content messages launched earlier this 12 months reveal Oath Keepers members had been discussing defending folks together with Trump ally Roger Stone and rally organizer Ali Alexander within the weeks main as much as Jan. 6.
Out of context, their communications earlier than and in the course of the assault sound "ominous as Hell," Crisp conceded, however the proof at trial wouldn't help the federal government's claims, he stated.
"Stewart Rhodes meant no hurt to the Capitol that day. Stewart Rhodes didn't have any violent intents that day," Linder argued for his consumer, telling the jury Rhodes will testify in his personal protection throughout a trial that's anticipated to final greater than a month.
However Nestler informed the jury that investigators will show that Watkins, Harrelson, and Meggs had been a part of an "invading military" that allegedly shaped a military-like "stack" to enter the Capitol constructing and push towards members of Congress together with Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi as Rhodes coordinated from exterior.
Prosecutors additionally confirmed the jury an image of a patch they alleged was on Meggs' clothes in the course of the assault. It learn, "I do not imagine in something. I am simply right here for the violence."
Utilizing snippets of video proof, Nestler walked the jury by way of what the federal government will argue is proof that the group coordinated to overthrow the federal government with power and forestall the peaceable switch of energy, a "core democratic customized."
Linder informed the jury that the federal government used the movies and inflammatory language in "an try to alarm and anger you."
"Though it could look inflammatory, they did nothing unlawful," the Linder stated of the defendants.
After the Capitol assault, Nestler informed the jury, Rhodes allegedly met with an unnamed particular person on January 10, 2021, by which he lamented that the group was not armed on Jan. 6 and tried to cross a message to Trump that it was "nonetheless not too late," to take motion. In accordance with the prosecutor, that dialog was secretly recorded.
However Linder claimed his consumer believed "in good religion" that Trump was set to invoke the Rebel Act and any requires undue violence had been "free speech and bravado." In all, protection attorneys argued all through the day on Monday that the Oath Keepers felt as if Trump had "failed" them as a result of they had been by no means referred to as to motion on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors stated they are going to allege at trial discuss of the Rebel Act was merely to offer the Oath Keepers with authorized cowl.
Attorneys for Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs, each of Florida, opted to not ship opening arguments for his or her shoppers. Fischer, on Caldwell's behalf, and Crisp, Watkins' legal professional, informed the jury that on the time of their arrest, their shoppers each spoke freely with investigators in interviews.
"These will not be the actions of somebody who was attempting to overthrow the federal government," Crisp stated, arguing that whereas Meggs did enter the Capitol, she was harmless of the extra critical costs.
Prosecutors referred to as their first witness Monday, FBI Particular Agent Michael Palian, to current proof concerning the alleged planning earlier than the Capitol assault, the primary side of the accused conspiracy.
Palian stated he was one among 70 brokers who responded to the decision and went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to help members of the Senate, whom he stated had been "shocked" by the chaos of the day. Some, he stated, had been crying.
He additionally answered questions concerning the information extraction from a few of the defendants' cellphones.
On Rhodes' telephone, Palian stated he discovered encrypted messages relationship again to the interval simply after the 2020 presidential election. In accordance with the messages, Rhodes wrote the day after the election that they had been establishing a QRF in Washington, D.C., and planning to oppose Biden's election.
Later in November 2020, Rhodes' texted a gaggle that they have to "march en-mass on the nation's Capitol" with references to the Serbian revolution.