On Friday, the Justice Department indicted six more members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, seven of whom were seen in a “ stack ” military formation attempting to breach the Capitol on January 6.
This indictment follows a previous January indictment of three other Oath Keepers, charged with conspiracy for their roles in the assault.
The indictment alleges that the accused “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with each other and others known and unknown” to break into the Capitol and obstruct Congress from certifying the election of Joe Biden as president.In announcing the new charges, prosecutors included social media postings from the defendants in which they articulated their support for then-President Donald Trump. The postings demonstrated that the accused were heading to D.C. in response to Trump’s calls to “Stop the Steal” by preventing congressional certification of the Electoral College vote.
.In a Facebook post written on December 22, two weeks before the attempted coup, Kelly Meggs responded to Trump’s call to come to D.C., stating, “Trump said It’s gonna be wild!!!!! It’s gonna be wild!!!! He wants us to make it WILD that’s what he’s saying. He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!!! Sir Yes Sir!!!! Gentlemen we are heading to DC pack your sh*t!!”
.Prior to the attempted coup, the domain name WildProtest.com was broadcast and promoted by Trump, local Republican parties and Trump-aligned representatives, all of whom urged their supporters to sign up and make a pledge to attend.
According to a tally from the New York Times, of the over 230 people charged so far for their role in the assault, 31 have ties to “militant extremist groups,” with 26 of those affiliated with the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys.
.Of the 22 people who have been charged with conspiracy, 18 are affiliated with the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.
While it is clear that far-right militia groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys led the assault on the Capitol, questions remain as to who was coordinating with the groups, which were under the impression that they were taking orders from Trump himself.
Several members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were employed by and/or photographed with high-level Republican operatives and Trump allies. These include InfoWars owner Alex Jones and Trump political crony Roger Stone.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/02/22/oath-f22.html
