The jury heard that the far-right Oath Keepers appeared to get a boost from Donald Trump's comments about the protests in Washington DC.
Stewart Rhodes is being tried for seditious conspiracy. The law against seditious conspiracy was enacted during the Civil War. It refers to an attempt to block the transfer of power.
The testimony from the FBI agent was shown to the jury after the election. On December 19th, Trump told his supporters to attend a big protest on January 6th.
Kelly Meggs is a leader of the Oath Keepers from Dunnellon, Florida. He told us to go to the Capitol and make it crazy. Sir, yes, Sir! There was an AP report.
After hosting "unconventional warfare" training, the Oath Keepers planned to bring weapons to Washington DC, according to the indictment.
On December 25th, Meggs wrote, "We need to make those senators very uncomfortable with all of us being a few hundred feet away." If we scare them and convince them to do the right thing, it will be torches and pitchforks time. I do not believe they will listen.
Defense lawyers for Rhodes plan to argue that the founder of the Oath Keepers is not guilty because he thought Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act. He led a militia that was called upon to defend the capital.
The prosecutor said in his opening statement that he was in Washington DC on the day of the riot but did not enter the capitol.
This is not the first time that Trump has encouraged the Capitol rioters. In a July hearing of the January 6 panel, Murphy described Trump's post as a call to action and in some cases as a call to arms.
The congressman said the former President's "electrified and galvanized" rioters.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
