I read the Oath Keepers indictment so you don't have to.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes indicted Thursday

Now we know what Merrick Garland’s Justice Department has been up to lately:  putting the fear of God, or at least the inside of a federal courtroom, into those who conspired to overthrow the election of 2020 by denying Joe Biden the certification of his electoral college votes.

It’s useful to recall that the indictment handed down by the Washington D.C. grand jury on Thursday is the second, or third indictment of Oath Keepers, depending on how you’re counting.  Nine members of the Oath Keepers, including Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Edward Caldwell, all of whom were re-indicted on Thursday, were indicted on February 21 of last year for conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States government.  The indictment specifically mentioned that they used the so-called “stack formation” to assault the Capitol, and that they had communicated with each other prior to January 6 using encrypted chat sites to coordinate travel to Washington, where they would stay, and where weapons and other equipment would be stored in a hotel outside of Washington.

A tenth Oath Keeper, Kenneth Harrelson, also indicted on Thursday, was added to the previous conspiracy indictment on March 16.  Harrelson was accused of being involved in the conspiracy to plan the attack, as well as tampering with documents and evidence in an attempt to obstruct the investigation of the attack on the Capitol.

The indictment on Thursday was new in its addition of the charge of seditious conspiracy to the charges made against the Oath Keepers.  The other charges against the 11 had been made in one form or another before:  “conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding (the counting and certification of electoral ballots); obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties; destruction of government property and aiding and abetting;  civil disorder and aiding and abetting; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; and tampering with documents or proceedings and aiding and abetting.”

What is truly new in the Thursday indictment is the of amount detail prosecutors have discovered about the actions of the Oath Keepers.  The charges include: preparing and coordinating travel to Washington and preparing for use of force; organizing into teams prepared to transport firearms and other combat equipment into Washington D.C.; recruiting members and affiliates to participate in the conspiracy; engaging in firearms, paramilitary and combat tactics training; bringing firearms and ammunition and other equipment to so-called QRF or Quick Reaction Force “staging areas” outside of Washington D.C.; bringing weapons and combat supplies including knives, batons, camouflaged uniforms, tactical vests (with bulletproof plates), helmets, eye protection, and radio equipment to the Capitol grounds; breaching the Capitol and using force in an effort to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the electoral college vote; using force against law enforcement officers; continuing to plot, after January 6, 2021, to oppose by force the lawful transfer of power; using websites, encrypted messages and social media applications to communicate and carry out the conspiracy.

Whew!  How’d you like to wake up one morning and face a list of charges like that?  Even better, how would you like to wake up and read the content of so many of your “invitation only, end-to-end encrypted group chats on the application Signal” that you tried so hard to keep the Feds from seeing?  Stuff like this jewel from a “Leadership intel sharing secured chat”: “We aren’t getting through this without a civil war.  Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body, and spirit.”  Or this: “We must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election – refuse to accept it and march en-masse on the nation’s Capital.”  Or this from an invitation-only Signal chat called “Dec 12 DC Security/Leadership” about what should happen should Biden assume the presidency: “It will be a bloody and desperate fight.  We are going to have a fight.  That can’t be avoided.”  On December 12, the North Carolina chapter of the Oath Keepers held a training session in response to that day’s call to arms that included, according to one of the encrypted chats, “vehicle operations, roadblocks, vehicle recovery, convoy operations, setting up hasty ambushes, and reacting to ambushes, but the first thing we are going to do is fall into a formation when we assemble…”

On December 22, the Oath Keepers leader and founder, Stewart Rhodes, named as “Individual One” in Thursday’s indictment, was quoted “in an interview with a regional Oath Keepers leader” as stating that if President Elect Biden assumes the presidency, “We will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. That’s what’s going to have to happen.”  In yet another communication on something called the “OKFL Hangout Chat,” Rhodes sent this message: “We need to make those Senators very uncomfortable with all of us being a few hundred feet away.  I think Congress with screw him [Trump] over.  The only chance we/he has is if we scare the shit out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time if they don’t do the right thing.  But I don’t think they will listen.”

I can only imagine what it must have been like at the Department of Justice when they got their hands on these Signal messages and saw the titles of their little meet-groups like “OKFL Hangout Chat.”  Reading this stuff in the indictment is like listening to a bunch of ten-year-olds playing soldier in a patch of forest, calling each other on their Walkabout two-way radios, hiding behind bushes in their Walmart camo gear.

Unfortunately, it was all very real, and the indictment is as chilling a recitation of serious crimes as I have read in quite some time.

This seems a good place to stop for a moment and note that all of these “end-to-end encrypted” messages on Signal and other secure means of communication came from someone other than Rhodes and the others named in the indictment.  So did the quote above from “an interview with a regional Oath Keepers leader.”  This can mean only one thing:  that an unknown number of Oath Keepers and perhaps members of other militia-style groups like the Proud Boys who were indicted last February and March have taken a look at the multiple years they are facing in a federal penitentiary and decided to cooperate with the FBI and the Department of Justice and turn over their cell phones and laptops (where the encrypted messages reside) in search of a lower sentence or perhaps even a suspended sentence in return for pleading guilty.

This is not good news for Mr. Rhodes and his 10 co-defendants.  Nor are the next two-dozen or so pages of the indictment listing in excruciating detail how the conspirators went about their plans for and execution of the assault on the Capitol.  Here are a few excerpts just so you get a sense of the granular detail and specificity of the indictment:

“On January 1 and 2 2021, Rhodes spent approximately $5,000 on firearms and related equipment, including a shotgun, scope, magazines, sights, optics, a bipod, a mount, a case of ammunition and gun-cleaning supplies.”

“On January 2, Rhodes messaged Meggs (one of the co-defendants also indicted on February 16) on Signal, ‘If you want to stow weapons with [the operations leader] you can.  He’ll have a secure car trunk or his hotel room (or mine).’ Meggs responded, ‘Last night call…we discussed a QRF RP so we may do that.  As well as the NC team has a hotel room close by.’  Rhodes messaged, ‘Okay, we will have a QRF.  This situation calls for it.’”

Meggs posted a map of Washington D.C. on the “Leadership Signal Chat.”  From the indictment: “1 if by land, North side of the Lincoln Memorial, 2 if by sea, corner of West Basin and Ohio (street) is a water transport landing!  Meggs continued, ‘QRF rallying points. Water if the bridges get closed.’  In response the North Carolina QRF team leader wrote, ‘My sources DC working on procuring Boat transportation as we speak’.”

The indictment goes on like this for another 17 pages, paragraph after paragraph, detail after excruciating detail: “Meggs added on the Leadership Signal Chat, ‘We aren’t quitting!!  We are reloading!!’” complete with double exclamation points.  There are about 8 pages devoted entirely to what the Oath Keepers did at the Capitol on January 6.  Here is but one little scrap from the indictment quoting a cellphone video taken by one of the Oath Keepers as they reached the Rotunda and were attempting to breach the lobby of the House of Representatives:  Defendant James “grabbed the vest of J.M., a Metropolitan Police Department Officer engaged in the performance of his official duties, and James pulled J.M. toward the mob.  While pulling J.M., James yelled, “Get out of my Capitol!  Get out of my Capitol!  Get out of my Capitol!” He continued to yell, “This is my fucking building!  This is not yours!  This is my Capitol!”  Behind him, other members of the mob, including at least one other defendant, pushed him forward as James yelled, “Keep going!”

We’ve already seen a lot of what happened inside the Capitol on videos shown on cable television, but reading descriptions written out in simple prose is somehow even more chilling than the images that flash by in seconds as the madness ensued.  So is reading the excerpts from the encrypted messages they sent to each other.  So is reading quotes from cellphone calls Rhodes and others made as the assault was happening.

And then you get close to the end of the indictment and you read this: “In the weeks after January 6, 2021, Rhodes purchased a large volume of firearms and related equipment,” followed by several paragraphs detailing the expenditure of more than $17,000 worth of ammunition, scopes, gun-lights (for use at night), magazines, targets, holsters, duffle bags, gun grips, backpacks, and gun maintenance equipment. The purchases happened on January 10 through 14.  And you realize that these guys were continuing to plan for their “revolution” and spending significant quantities of money getting ready for it.

On January 20, as the inauguration was taking place in Washington D.C., the various Oath Keepers were spread around the country and as one of them texted another, “staying under the radar.”  But not so far under the radar that one of the defendants texted another: “After this…if nothing happens…it’s war…Civil War 2.0.”

It was probably the indictments of the 9 Oath Keepers in mid-February and knowledge that some of those who participated in the assault on the Capitol were being held without bail in federal detention facilities that brought a halt to the flurry of text messages and “Leadership chats” that had been going on for months.  Images of the Capitol assault on cable news must have also had an effect on their enthusiasm, once they were able to see that, to their growing horror, their revolution had indeed been televised.

In the ensuing months, the mountain of evidence in the Thursday indictment would find its way into the hands of prosecutors in the Department of Justice.  And now those who face charges can read their own words and watch their own movements and experience once again the thrill they shared as they engaged in a coup to overturn the election for their ultimate leader, the then-president of the United States. 

Who’s not thrilled right now are any other co-conspirators who spoke with the Oath Keepers or shared encrypted texts with them or met with them in various hotels in Washington D.C.  It’s well known that prosecutors don’t reveal the evidence they have collected until they get an indictment.  Doubtlessly there are more texts and encrypted messages to come.

Methinks Roger Stone, who had Oath Keepers as body guards on January 5, Steve Bannon, and quite a few others who attended the so-called “war rooms” before and during the assault on the Capitol aren’t going to be sleeping well in the coming weeks. 

Watch this space.