Twenty-four hours after the indictment for "sedition" of Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right militia Oath Keepers for his participation in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, several American media have raised a corner veil over the plans of this paramilitary group to sabotage the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory in the presidential election.
Read alsoAssault on the Capitol: Biden incriminates Trump without naming him
The federal indictment alleges that Stewart Rhodes conspired with ten other members of his militia to forcibly oppose the legal transfer of presidential power. The first signals of a planned operation date back to the days following the November 2020 election, when Donald Trump contested the result of the presidential election, which gave victory to Democrat Joe Biden, without proof. On encrypted apps, Rhodes encourages his followers to
“forcefully oppose the legal transfer of presidential power.”
He sends the following message:
“We will not get out of this without a civil war. Too late. Prepare your head, your body and your spirit.”
On November 7, Rhodes sends a message to the group:
“Now we must do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election. Refuse to accept it and march en masse on the Capitol.”
Rhodes then shared a video, outlining step-by-step how to overthrow a government based on the Serbian example. Two days later, in an online conference with other members of the Oath Keepers, the militia leader details his plan to overturn the election. Another 48 hours later, a member of the group, Caldwell, contacts Rhodes to share the results of a reconnaissance operation in Washington and to begin planning an upcoming "operation" on Capitol Hill.
We will have to make a bloody, bloody and massive revolution against them.
That's what's going to have to happen.
»
Stewart Rhodes
From there, the members begin to work together.
At the end of November, the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers organizes a training with the theme of
“unconventional warfare”
.
“It will be a bloody and desperate fight.
We will fight.
It cannot be avoided
,” Rhodes wrote in a group chat with members in December.
On forums, the Oath Keepers discuss how their 'rapid response teams' will move into the Comfort Inn hotel in Ballston Arlington, Va., to
'use as their base of operations on January 6, 2021'
. They booked three rooms, occupied by three teams from different states: North Carolina, Arizona and Florida. They also stored firearms and ammunition in other hotel rooms.
On December 21, 2020, the Oath Keepers mention January 6 for the first time.
James Wakins, one of 11 charged militiamen, messages the group on Signal about a "
national call to action for DC on January 6"
and says the Oath Keepers are on the call.
"Everyone on this channel needs to understand the magnitude of what I just said,"
he wrote.
Rhodes tells a regional leader of the Oath Keepers that if Joe Biden assumes the presidency,
“we will have to make a bloody, bloody, massive revolution against them.
That's what's going to have to happen."
$20,000 in weapons
The group discusses shipping firearms. One of the members, Thomas Caldwell, asks his colleagues if anyone had a boat capable of crossing the Potomac River. "
If we had someone stationed near a ramp to the dock (one near the Pentagon obviously), we could have our
'rapid response team'
standing by with the heavy weapons, to quickly load them and transport to the other side of the river, where our guys are waiting”
, is it quoted by the investigators.
On Christmas Day, Rhodes writes that Congress is likely to
"fool"
Donald Trump and that the only chance he has is if
"we scare them off and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks... »
In the days leading up to the attack, Stewart Rhodes reportedly went on a buying spree, spending more than $20,000 on weapons and paramilitary equipment.
In December, he bought two pairs of night vision goggles and a sight for about $7,000 and shipped them to Virginia.
In January, he spent another $5,000 on a shotgun, scope, magazine, sights, optics, bipod, barrel rest, ammo box and gun cleaning supplies. .
Two days later, he spent another $6,000, then $4,500 the next day.
Read alsoStewart Rhodes, the far-right leader ready to launch a "civil war" in the United States
According to court documents, the Oath Keepers positioned armed militiamen on the outskirts of Washington. At 6:27 a.m. on January 6, Rhodes sends a message to the group chat:
"We will have several
well-equipped 'rapid reaction forces' members
outside of DC."
At around 8:30 a.m., Rhodes and others militiamen leave their hotel and drive to the Capitol in Washington DC. The teams staying in a hotel in Virginia evoke the possibility of an "
armed conflict
" and a "
guerrilla
"
.
Then, just before 1:30 p.m., Rhodes wrote on the Signal messenger: Vice President Mike “
Pence does nothing. As I predicted.
" He adds:
“All I see Trump doing is complaining.
I don't see any intention on his part to do anything.
So the Patriots are taking matters into their own hands.
They've had enough.
»
Read alsoAssault on the Capitol: arrest of the leader of the Oath Keepers militia for “sedition”
At the Capitol, the Oath Keepers advance in formation, equipped with protective vests, helmets and goggles.
They took with them radios, chemical sprays and reinforced gloves.
In their group chat, a member asks if antifa have taken over the Capitol
"No, I'm in, they're Patriots
," Rhodes replies.
“True Patriots.
Furious patriots.”
Rhodes apparently did not enter the Capitol, but other members of the Oath Keepers did. Jessica Watkins texted in one of the Oath Keepers group chats:
'We're in the main dome right now. We assure. They throw grenades, they shoot people with paintballs. But we're in it."
Another responds cursingly exclaims that this is what they
"trained"
for .
The indictment says Watkins and another formation of Oath Keepers joined rioters pushing back law enforcement inside a lobby leading to the Senate Chamber.
“Push, push, push… Get in there, get in there!”
she would have ordered.