By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The founding father of the Oath Keepers extremist group and 4 associates deliberate an “armed revolt” to maintain President Donald Trump in energy, a federal prosecutor contended Monday as probably the most critical case but went to trial within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Stewart Rhodes and his band of extremists had been ready to go to struggle to cease Joe Biden from turning into president, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Jeffrey Nestler instructed jurors. The group celebrated the Capitol assault as a victory in that struggle and continued their plot even after Biden’s electoral victory was licensed, Nestler alleged.
“Their purpose was to cease, by no matter means crucial, the lawful switch of presidential energy, together with by taking over arms towards the US authorities,” the prosecutor stated throughout his opening assertion. “They concocted a plan for armed revolt to shatter a bedrock of American democracy.”
The defendants are the primary amongst a whole bunch of individuals arrested within the Capitol riot to face trial on seditious conspiracy, a uncommon Civil Struggle-era cost that requires as much as 20 years behind bars. The stakes are excessive for the Justice Division, which final secured such a conviction at trial almost 30 years in the past, and intends to attempt two extra teams on the cost later this yr.
The trial comes as Trump continues to insist, towards a lot proof, that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and as vocal pushback towards the costs filed towards those that entered the Capitol continues in some quarters. The broader response may present how the American public, in addition to the jury, sees the assault, almost two years later.
Protection attorneys accused prosecutors of cherry-picking feedback from messages and movies and stated the federal government has no proof there ever was any plan to assault the Capitol. Rhodes’ lawyer stated his consumer will take the stand and present that the Oath Keepers had merely been making ready for orders they anticipated from Trump however by no means got here.
“Stewart Rhodes meant no hurt to the Capitol that day. Stewart Rhodes didn't have any violent intent that day,” Rhodes’ lawyer, Phillip Linder, stated. “The story the federal government is making an attempt to inform you right now is totally incorrect.”
On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, chief of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, one other Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group. They face a number of different fees as nicely.
They're amongst roughly 900 individuals who have been charged within the assault, which briefly halted the certification of Biden’s victory, despatched lawmakers working for canopy and left dozens of cops injured.
Within the Oath Keepers case, prosecutors will attempt to show that their actions weren't a spontaneous outpouring of election-fueled rage however a part of an in depth, drawn-out plot to cease Biden from getting into the White Home.
The Oath Keepers “had been ready in November, they had been ready in December and when the chance lastly introduced itself on Jan 6, 2021, they sprang into motion,” Nestler stated.
Rhodes started plotting to overturn Biden’s victory proper after the election, Nestler stated. In November 2020, Rhodes despatched his followers a step-by-step plan for stopping the switch of energy based mostly on a preferred rebellion that introduced down Yugoslavia’s president 20 years earlier.
Across the identical time, Rhodes was additionally speaking in one other web group — which included Trump ally Roger Stone — that was known as “FOS,” or “Associates of Stone,” in keeping with testimony. On Nov. 7, 2020, Rhodes stated in a message to that group that he was on his strategy to D.C. for a doable “op” and was out there to fulfill “face-to-face.”
As December approached, Rhodes’ rhetoric turned more and more violent and determined, Nestler stated.
In messages and feedback learn to the jury, the Oath Keepers repeatedly warned of violence if Biden had been to change into president. Throughout a December interview, Rhodes known as senators “traitors” and warned that the Oath Keepers must “overthrow, abort or abolish Congress.” He described Jan. 6 as a “onerous constitutional deadline” for stopping the switch of energy.
The Oath Keepers organized coaching, together with one session on “unconventional warfare.” Earlier than coming to Washington, they stashed “weapons of struggle” at a Virginia lodge to function “fast response drive” that might get weapons into the capital shortly if crucial, the prosecutor stated.
As Oath Keepers stormed the Capitol in helmets and different battle gear, Rhodes remained on the surface, like “a normal surveying his troops on a battlefield,” Nestler stated. After the assault, the elated Oath Keepers went to a Virginia restaurant to have fun their victory, the prosecutor stated.
Within the days between the riot and Biden’s inauguration, Rhodes spent greater than $17,000 on firearm components, ammunition and different objects, prosecutors say. Shortly after the rebellion, Rhodes was secretly recorded saying that his “solely remorse is that they need to have introduced rifles,” Nestler stated.
Amongst those that might testify throughout the trial, which is able to final a number of weeks, are three Oath Keepers who’ve pleaded responsible to seditious conspiracy and are cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of getting lighter sentences. They embody a person who says that after arriving in Washington, Meggs instructed him that one other Florida Oath Keeper had introduced explosives in his RV.
The federal government’s first witness was a FBI agent, who responded on Jan. 6 to assist rescue senators. He described lawmakers crying, damaged doorways and home windows and a scene that “regarded like a bomb had gone off.”
Protection attorneys say prosecutors have ripped the Oath Keepers’ messages out of context to color them unfairly. The Oath Keepers got here to Washington to offer safety at occasions for figures equivalent to Stone earlier than the president’s massive outside rally behind the White Home, protection attorneys stated. Rhodes’ lawyer described the group as a “peacekeeping” drive and known as his consumer an “extraordinarily patriotic” man who “loves this nation.”
Rhodes’ attorneys plan to argue that Rhodes believed Trump was going to going to invoke the Rebel Act and name up a militia, which Rhodes had been calling on him to do to cease Biden from turning into president. Rhodes’ attorneys have stated he was merely lobbying the president to invoke a U.S. legislation.
Prosecutors say it’s clear the Oath Keepers had been going to behave no matter what Trump did. Nestler instructed jurors that Rhodes, a Yale Legislation Faculty graduate, was solely utilizing the Rebel Act as “authorized cowl.” In a single message, Rhodes wrote in December 2020 that Trump “must know that if he fails to behave, then we'll.”
An lawyer for Caldwell stated his consumer is a disabled veteran who didn’t even know of the Oath Keepers till November 2020. The protection lawyer, David Fischer, known as Jan. 6 a “black eye” for the nation, however stated Caldwell merely got here to Washington “on a date together with his spouse” and wasn’t een planning to go to the Capitol till Trump’s speech on the Ellipse earlier than the riot.
“Mr. Caldwell couldn’t storm his approach out of a paper bag,” Fischer stated. “I got here right here to clear his identify.”
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This story has been corrected to mirror that there are 5 defendants, not 5 males, on trial.
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For full protection of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
Extra on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump