Name: New evidence suggests ‘alliance’ between Oath Keepers, Proud Boys ahead of Jan. 6
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New evidence suggests ‘alliance’ between Oath Keepers, Proud Boys ahead of Jan. 6

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The evidence is the first to suggest coordination among the various extremist groups as they prepared to descend on Washington.Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl and Ethan Nordean walk toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | Carolyn Kaster/AP PhotoA key member of the Oath Keepers militia told associates he had coordinated alliances with the Proud Boys and other paramilitary groups in advance of Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally, according to new evidence filed by the Justice Department.Kelly Meggs, the Florida leader of the Oath Keepers, said in that he’d been in touch repeatedly with Proud Boys leadership in particular. He said he had worked out a strategy to confront potential violence from antifa, a loosely organized collection of left-wing extremists. Meggs has been charged along with nine others with conspiring to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election.“This week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys,” Meggs wrote in a Dec. 19 message to an associate via Facebook. “We have decided to work together and shut this shit down.”In Dec. 22 and Dec. 25 messages, Meggs got more specific, describing tactical maneuvers they would conduct with the Proud Boys if they encountered antifa: “We’re going to march with them for awhile then fall to the back of the crowd and turn off. Then we will have the Proud Boys get in front of them the cops will get between antifa and Proud Boys. We will come in behind antifa and beat the hell out of them.”The evidence is the first to suggest coordination among the various extremist groups as they prepared to descend on Washington. Oath Keepers attorneys have emphasized in court papers that evidence they were preparing for violence was limited to potential confrontation with antifa — not a plan to storm the Capitol.But prosecutors say that any advance planning by the groups — plus a growing body of evidence that the Oath Keepers coordinated their Capitol entry and rallied to the group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes, at an appointed time — suggests their intentions weren’t limited to battling antifa.Prosecutors unveiled an indictment last week against four Proud Boys leaders for similarly coordinating movements in advance of Jan. 6, with an emphasis on dividing into small groups ahead of their march on the Capitol. Along with the Oath Keepers cases, the Proud Boys charges are the gravest to arise from the Jan. 6 assault. Prosecutors have arrested more than 300 participants in the Capitol attack. Dozens unaffiliated with either militia have been charged with brutal assaults on police and breaching the building or causing property damage.Michael Sherwin, who until recently was the leader of the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation and the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., told CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday that he believes evidence would support a charge of “seditious conspiracy” against some of the rioters, a rarely used charge meant to signal an intent to overthrow the government. And anonymous DOJ officials told The New York Times that they believed such a charge would likely be aimed at the Oath Keepers.The reports led a and threaten sanctions Tuesday for comments he said could taint the jury pool and undermine the case against the 10 Oath Keepers.According to court papers filed by prosecutors, the Oath Keepers moved on the building in a military-style “stack” formation and were among the first to enter the Capitol complex. They then dispersed to various points in the building, and messages show they were intent on heading to the Senate, where then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over a GOP-led challenge to Arizona’s electoral vote count. Prosecutors note they’re still reviewing footage to determine whether Oath Keepers followed the mob to the Senate chamber.Meggs’ messages indicated that just days before the Jan. 6 attack, he and others anticipated that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act, which they viewed as permission to aid his effort to stay in power.“Trump’s staying in, he’s gonna use the emergency broadcast system on cell phones to broadcast to the American people. Then he will claim the insurrection act,” Meggs wrote in a Dec. 26 Facebook message.“Any idea when?” an associate replied.“Next week,” Meggs said. “Then wait for the 6th when we are all in dc to insurrection.”Meggs’ messages also show that Pence’s actions ahead of Jan. 6 — in which he agreed he would entertain challenges to the counting of electoral votes, as procedures required — emboldened the group. “That checks all the boxes,” Meggs wrote. “I think this is why we were called there.”Meggs also indicated that about 200 Oath Keepers had heeded what rioters said was a call to come to Washington. It’s unclear how many actually showed up. Ten have been indicted as part of the conspiracy, and prosecutors indicated they anticipate up to about five more being added to these particular charges.In released Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors revealed an exchange between Oath Keepers Donovan Crowl and Jessica Watkins discussing plans to abscond to Kentucky should efforts to stop Biden’s inauguration fail.Watkins, under the pseudonym “Jolly Roger,” wrote to Crowl in a Facebook message that the group’s “bugout plan” included upward of 20 Oath Keepers settling on land on “hundred’s of acres” of a Kentucky mountainside she said was located about two hours south of an ally’s property.“Solar power, clean mountain spring, the whole 9,” Watkins indicated. “Tons of tree cover too. Good defense against pesky drone surveillance.”Watkins added that the mountain location “gives us the high ground, and makes tunneling out fighting positions great (above water line).” She said the group would “be like the NVA” — the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War — and “network tunnels.”Crowl called the proposal a “great idea.”In the new filing — an effort to keep Crowl detained pending trial — prosecutors also provided new information about what they describes as the Oath Keepers’ plan to set up a “quick reaction force” outside of D.C. limits ready to whisk heavy weaponry to the group should Jan. 6 devolve into mass violence. Prosecutors noted that Rhodes (redacting Rhodes’ name, as they have in most other filings) had claimed to set up a similar QRF ahead of an event in November supporting Trump’s claim of a stolen election dubbed by his allies as the “Million MAGA March.”“Oath Keepers will also have some of our most skilled special warfare veterans standing by armed, just outside D.C.,” Rhodes wrote on his group’s website, in a post drawn from archived internet pages, “as an emergency QRF in the event of a worst case scenario in D.C. (such as a “Benghazi” style assault on the White House by communist terrorists, in conjunction with stand-down orders by traitor generals).”In a court hearing Wednesday morning, District Court Judge Amit Mehta agreed to release one of the 10 charged Oath Keepers, Laura Steele, from pretrial detention. Though he agreed that the charges against Steele were significant, he said prosecutors had presented minimal evidence that she played a role in planning the alleged conspiracy, committed violent acts, carried weapons or destroyed any property during the Capitol siege.Though prosecutors had claimed that Steele, a former police officer, attempted to destroy evidence of her involvement in the Oath Keepers’ plot, Mehta said it wasn’t enough to keep her detained pending trial. He noted that Steele had no prior criminal history and did have strong community ties — including a husband and two children who are also in law enforcement.“Steele doesn’t pose the type of danger to the community that warrants continued detention pending trial,” Mehta said.Mehta accompanied his release order with strict conditions that include surrendering her passport, refrain from contact with anyone affiliated with the Oath Keepers — including her brother Graydon Young, who is one of the other Oath Keepers charged in the conspiracy. He also restricted Steele to home confinement, required GPS monitoring and barred her access to computers and electronic devices that would permit her to communicate electronically with her associates.In a late-night filing Wednesday, prosecutors homed in further on Rhodes, revealing new messages he sent to fellow Oath Keepers as they stormed the Capitol. He held a “97 second” phone call with Meggs just before the group breached the building, they say.“Trump better do his damn duty,” Rhodes messaged the group via Signal when they were inside the Capitol.By 4 p.m, the Oath Keepers who had entered the building had left to regroup and huddled with Rhodes just outside the Capitol. And at 7:41 p.m., Rhodes sent another Signal message to the group, comparing their efforts to the Boston Tea Party.“We have one FINAL chance to get Trump to do his job and his duty. Patriots entering their own Capitol to send a message to the traitors is NOTHING compared to what’s coming if Trump doesn’t take decisive action right now,” he wrote. “It helped to send that message to HIM. He was the most important audience today. I hope he got the message.”By morning, though, Trump’s lack of action left some Oath Keepers dejected. "“Trump conceded … its over. We lose,” said Joshua James, who has been charged separately by prosecutors for his role in the attack.

The evidence is the first to suggest coordination among the various extremist groups as they prepared to descend on Washington.Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl and Ethan Nordean walk toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | Carolyn Kaster/AP PhotoA key member of the Oath Keepers militia told associates he had coordinated alliances with the Proud Boys and other paramilitary groups in advance of Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally, according to new evidence filed by the Justice Department.Kelly Meggs, the Florida leader of the Oath Keepers, said in that he’d been in touch repeatedly with Proud Boys...

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Kyle Cheney is a Congress reporter for POLITICO  Cheney joined the Congress team after covering the 2016 presidential election on POLITICO's politics team. He covered the Republican primary field with a focus on the national GOP, the Republican National Convention and the internal machinations of the party as it adjusted to the emergence of Donald Trump.

https://www.politico.com/staff/kyle-cheney

Kyle Cheney

Politico, known originally as The Politico, is an American political journalism company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and internationally. It distributes content through its website, television, printed newspapers, radio, and podcasts. Its coverage in Washington, D.C. includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, the media, and the presidency.

New evidence suggests ‘alliance’ between Oath Keepers, Proud Boys ahead of Jan. 6

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