Oath Keepers jury hears about massive weapon cache on Jan. 6

By Lindsay Whitehurst | Linked Press

WASHINGTON — A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a enormous cache of weapons the much-proper extremist group stashed in a Virginia lodge area.

Taking the stand in the seditious conspiracy scenario against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Terry Cummings confirmed jurors an AR-15 firearm and an orange box for ammunition that he contributed to the so-called brief reaction power the Oath Keepers had staged at the resort exterior of Washington in situation they necessary weapons.

“I had not seen that a lot of weapons in one area considering the fact that I was in the armed forces,” reported Cummings, a veteran who joined the Oath Keepers in Florida in 2020.

Prosecutors have explained teams of Oath Keepers guarded the arsenal of firearms and ended up geared up to hurry them into the palms of extremists in the money if necessary.

The alleged groups and the cache of weapons are a central piece of the Division of Justice’s situation against Rhodes and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 assault. Customers of the Oath Keepers stashed the firearms just outside Washington district limitations, specified the capitol’s harder gun guidelines.

Authorities have alleged the teams and the stockpile of arms were built to get weapons into Oath Keepers’ fingers quickly if they had been necessary to aid a plot to cease the transfer of electric power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.

Cummings’ testimony arrived in the next week of the demo that is expected to previous quite a few months. The some others on trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida.

Defense lawyers have not denied the existence of the quick reaction teams but pointed out that they had been under no circumstances deployed on Jan. 6. They have accused prosecutors of falsely portraying them as an invasion drive.

Protection attorneys have said the Oath Keepers generally established up brief response forces for occasions, but insist they have been defensive forces only to be used to secure from violence from antifa activists or in the celebration Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. They are not facing any gun charges for bringing the weapons to Virginia.

Rhodes’ lawyers have mentioned they will argue that are not able to uncover him responsible of seditious conspiracy due to the fact all the actions he took before Jan. 6 had been in preparing for orders he anticipated from Trump beneath the Insurrection Act, which provides presidents huge discretion to decide when armed service force is required.

Cummings instructed jurors that he traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 with other Oath Keepers to be aspect of a VIP protection detail for Trump’s rally at the Ellipse. He mentioned he observed it as an opportunity to “express my Initial Modification rights” and see a sitting president talk, which he experienced under no circumstances finished.

Cummings stated his knowledge was the brief reaction forces “would perhaps be used not as an offensive predicament, but more as a clearly show of drive.”

Cummings reported he was component of a group that acted as a protection staff for a VIP at Trump’s rally before the riot. Cummings and other Oath Keepers still left in advance of Trump’s speech was concluded and went toward the Capitol.

He recalled Meggs talked about entering the Capitol – something Cummings did not feel was a very good thought. He then break up off to come across a lavatory, and when he returned the group was absent. The group entered the Capitol although he was away, he stated. Up to an hour later, Cummings rejoined fellow Oath Keepers from Florida, and eventually Rhodes appeared as perfectly.

Cummings said he did not listen to any speak about ideas to storm or attack the Capitol, although he also explained he was not in a place of leadership. He has not confronted criminal costs, was subpoenaed to testify for the government and acknowledged on the stand that he has contributed to the legal defense fund of some of the defendants.

Authorities have stated that Meggs and the Florida Oath Keepers on Jan. 5 introduced gun bins, rifle scenarios and suitcases stuffed with ammunition to the Virginia lodge that served as the property for the fast response force. A different workforce from Arizona introduced weapons, ammunition, and materials to very last 30 days, according to court docket papers. A group from North Carolina experienced rifles in a auto parked in the hotel lot, prosecutors have claimed.

Prosecutors have described surveillance footage that they say shows Oath Keepers rolling bags, large bins and what appears to be at least 1 rifle circumstance into the lodge.

In excess of various days in early January, Rhodes invested $15,500 on guns, such as an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other machines, prosecutors have mentioned. Caldwell, in one information, suggested receiving a boat to ferry “heavy weapons” throughout the Potomac River into the Oath Keepers’ “waiting arms.”