Opening arguments set to begin in the Oath Keepers trial at the Prettyman federal courthouse this morning. 
Hearing is underway. Judge Amit Mehta is denying Kelly Meggs' last minute request for a bench trial.
"it is irrefutable that the majority of those questioned had negative feelings about the events of January 6, 2021," said the motion. (Negative feelings about a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol isn't enough to get you kicked off a jury.) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
To quote a rejected juror in another trial, Jan. 6 was "not great." (CC: @eyokley)
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1549145035047927821
@eyokley "Voir dire has done its job... It's absolutely done its job," said Judge Mehta.
"We are certainly not delaying this jury trial," Judge Mehta, once again, emphasizes.
Judge Mehta said he has "no doubt" that Oath Keepers security efforts are going to come up, suspects that'll be the first question from defense on cross of the first witness. If there's a doubt that OK security efforts will come up in court, Mehta says, pay better attention.
There's a discussion about whether marital privilege applies to a family chat, Kelly Meggs' team is trying to claim that maybe his son wasn't on the chat (without any evidence). Their daughter left the family chat twice, and there's a record of when she left, so Mehta calls B.S.
Now there's discussion around hand grenades that were found in a RV that alleged co-conspirator Jeremy Brown brought to D.C.
Kenneth Harrelson attorney Brad Geyer says the RV was heavily used by the Brown family, including by a dog.
"Was it the dogs' hand grenade?" Mehta asks.
Kenneth Harrelson attorney Brad Geyer says the RV was heavily used by the Brown family, including by a dog.
"Was it the dogs' hand grenade?" Mehta asks.
Brad Geyer said that Jeremy Brown's DNA wasn't on the grenades, and wanted to suppress evidence of the grenades in this trial. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
All 16 jurors showed up today. Opening from the government is going to be about an hour and 15 minutes.
Some disclosures from the jurors: One juror briefly heard a NPR story about the Oath Keepers trial and turned it off, another saw a headline but didn't read. Opening from the government should be underway soon.
Jurors sworn in. Oath Keepers trial underway.
DOJ: “These defendants tried to change that history… to shatter a bedrock of American democracy.”
DOJ: Stewart Rhodes' "philosophy perverts the constitutional order.” He was like a "general on the battlefield," who surveyed things while others stormed.
DOJ has a chart showing the other members of the conspiracy. “There are simply too many names to cover at this stage," AUSA Jeffrey S. Nestler says.
“They did not go to the Capitol to defend or to help, they went to attack.” They went to intimidate members of Congress, DOJ argues.
"Push, push, push, get in there, they can't hold us," Jessica Watkins said in a video played by DOJ.
DOJ quotes Rhodes: “We aren’t getting through this without a civil war.”
Says Rhodes, with his law degree, was careful with his words. "They used a code, or a shorthand, the Insurrection Act."
Said they think "Insurrection Act" were "magic words" that would give them cover.
Says Rhodes, with his law degree, was careful with his words. "They used a code, or a shorthand, the Insurrection Act."
Said they think "Insurrection Act" were "magic words" that would give them cover.
Then they play him saying "Insurrection Act" was "legal cover."
Rhodes wanted Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, but "President Trump never did. It never happened," says DOJ. "Even though President Trump never invoked the Insurrection Act," they did use force, DOJ says.
Some background: Stewart Rhodes wanted White House contacts: nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
And a member of the Oath Keepers had previously been in touch with Andrew Giuliani. nbcnews.com/politics/justi…
DOJ citing open letters from Oath Keepers to Trump. "many of us will have our mission-critical gear stowed nearby just outside D.C., and we will answer the call right then and there, if you call on us.” nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
Quoting Kelly Meggs from December chat: “We need to surround the Capitol all the way around with Patriots screaming so they hear us inside! Scare the hell out of them….”
DOJ concedes that defendants had multiple reasons to be in D.C. "in addition to attacking Congress," saying they talked about attending the Trump rally and acting as security (although noting they weren't licensed, but "being bad security guards isn’t in and of itself illegal.")
DOJ says Oath Keeper defendants are trying to craft a narrative that they were on the side of law and order that day. But the only people there were there to help were themselves, DOJ argues.
“These conspirators' narrative is that they were patriots. They were not.”
Warrior gets a shoutout. #YallerOK #DogmanOK
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1400495818210152451
Oath Keeper defendants were elated, boastful, and proud about what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, DOJ argues. Quote Meggs talking about "reloading."
DOJ quotes Thomas Caldwell saying they would have killed 100 politicians if they had guns on Jan. 6.
(That's Tucker Carlson regular Thomas Caldwell.)
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1482032220235878406
DOJ quotes Stewart Rhodes instructing others to delete messages.
"Let me put it in infantry speak: SHUT THE FUCK UP."
"Let me put it in infantry speak: SHUT THE FUCK UP."
"My only regret is that they should have brought rifles," Rhodes said in recorded audio, according to DOJ.
Oath Keepers defendants, DOJ tells jurors, "have made it easy for you" by laying out their thinking in their messages.
Defense attorney for Thomas Caldwell: DOJ has more cell phones in this case than an Apple store has in stock.
Caldwell attorney: They interview alone, they interview people over Zoom, they interview cooperators. There is not one human being who has said that Thomas Caldwell had any plan to go into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Caldwell attorney: If I took AOC's phone I could put together a case today by cherrypicking her statements.
DOJ: Objection.
Caldwell attorney: I withdraw.
"This is the biggest bait and switch" in the history of the American justice system, he says.
DOJ: Objection.
Caldwell attorney: I withdraw.
"This is the biggest bait and switch" in the history of the American justice system, he says.
Caldwell attorney mentions Oath Keepers in Ferguson:
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/630986379304923136
Thomas Caldwell's lawyer said he was concerned about the location of porta potties on Jan. 6, and that's why he went to on a "pre-strike" recognizance mission to D.C.
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