Prosecutors will try to prove that nine Oath Keepers charged with conspiracy — Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Thomas Caldwell and Edward Vallejo — prepared extensively for violence and they planned to stop Joe Biden from taking over the presidency.
All nine have pleaded not guilty and denied allegations of preparing for or participating in the January 6 violence. CNN has reached out to their lawyers for comment.
The Justice Department has also secured at least seven cooperation agreements from members of the Oath Keepers, three of whom pleaded guilty to rioting conspiracy. Some of the associates are named in the new filing and had close contacts with the Oath Keepers leading up to the lawsuit.
Militia training, bombs and ‘kill list’
Among the new details in the government’s allegations is a document with the words “DEATH LIST” that the government says it found at the home of Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell through a search warrant in the weeks after Jan. 6.
The handwritten list included the name of a Georgia 2020 election official and their family member who, according to the new court filing, were both targets of “baseless conspiracy theories that they engaged in voter fraud.”
In a comment to CNN, Caldwell said “the DOJ’s allegation that I sought to assassinate election officials is a 100% false and disgusting lie.”
The government also claims that at least three Oath Keepers chapters held training camps prior to January 6, 2021, focusing on military tactics.
Members from Florida conducted a training session on “unconventional warfare,” while the North Carolina chapter held a training session focused on creating “hasty ambushes,” prosecutors say. Jessica Watkins, a leader of the Ohio chapter, said “recruits” will have to attend “military-style basic” training courses to be “competitive” by Inauguration Day.
Prosecutors have previously said the group set up a so-called quick reaction force, or QRF, outside Washington, D.C., stocked with firearms and a month’s worth of food. But prosecutors now allege that at least one Oath Keeper transported explosives, including military order grenades, to the QRF.
The court document also alleges that the Oath Keepers set up a similar QRF outside of DC for the “Million MAGA March” in November 2020, although no weapons were ever used at the march. According to prosecutors, at least five of the Jurors attended.
After the attack
Through its investigation of the group, the government says it seized two illegal small-barreled firearms, hand grenades and discovered bomb-making recipes while executing search warrants at the homes of several Oath Keepers. Another member, according to the filing, tried to get someone to build multiple rifles before Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
According to the government, on the evening of Jan. 6, Rhodes suspected law enforcement was trying to arrest him, so he left a restaurant and “took a series of steps to avoid detection” — including throwing away his phone and “thousands of dollars worth of firearms and related equipment were separated into four vehicles.”
According to prosecutors, Rhodes asked other Oath Keepers to follow him to Texas after the events of Jan. 6 and suggested that group members buy fire phones and start wearing disguises. He also bought thousands of dollars worth of firearm parts, according to the court filing.
On one occasion, Rhodes handed another member of the group an AR-15 rifle while they were in a vehicle together, “explaining that he did not intend to be taken alive by law enforcement,” according to the government.
Philip Linder, an attorney for Rhodes, said Rhodes was not aware of any plan of violence and did not participate in the violence at the Capitol.
