Five members of the Oath Keepers 'concocted a plan for an armed rebellion,' federal prosecutor says as their seditious conspiracy trial opens.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told jurors the defendants, including Oath Keepers founder, along with members Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, "banded together to do whatever was necessary" to stop the transfer of power between Donald Trump and then-President-elect Joe Biden -- and that they saw U.S. Congress certification of the electoral college as their perfect opportunity.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, center, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, June 25, 2017."These defendants use their training, knowledge and experience they gained in the United States Armed Forces to further their ability to succeed and plot to oppose by force the government of the United States," Nestler said on Monday.
"My only regret is that they should have brought rifles," Rhodes said in recorded audio on Jan. 10. "We could have fixed it right then and there." "The real evidence is going to show our clients were there to do security on [January] 5th and 6th," Stewart Rhodes' attorney Phillip Linder said during his opening statement Monday. "The type of security they've done for 13 years throughout their history."Linder said Rhodes would testify during the trial.
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