A Well-Regulated Militia.

[Rick Plant]

U.S. seeks probe of Trump-allied lawyer's funding of Oath Keepers defense
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-seeks-probe-trump-allied-lawyers-funding-oath-keepers-defense-2022-06-22/

[Rick Plant]

So much for the bogus claim that "no guns" were brought to the Capitol by radical fascist Trump supporters.

Running List of Gun Arrests Tied to the U.S. Capitol Attack

Civilians didn't open fire on January 6, but that doesn’t mean the Trump supporters who congregated at the Capitol weren’t armed.



The January 6 insurrection wasn’t explicitly billed as a Second Amendment event. But the specter of guns was everywhere: on the flags flown by rioters, in the insurrectionist theory they espoused, and the tactical gear they donned. And in some cases, despite Washington, D.C.’s unusually strict gun laws, which require firearms to be registered with local police, the Trump supporters who gathered at the U.S. Capitol were armed.

As of now, at least 13 people have been hit with illegal gun possession charges stemming from the riot, according to an analysis of arrest records and court documents. Two of them were detained after police noticed a bulge under their clothing. Three people were arrested the night before the riot. Another person, Proud Boys’ leader Enrique Tarrio, was found in possession of two large-capacity magazines when police arrested him for another crime on January 4. Because Tarrio planned on going to the rally, we included him in our tally.

But these are only the people who were caught with guns that day. We’ll never know how many people brought weapons with them to President Trump’s speech, and onward to the Capitol. Perhaps cognizant of the penalty for carrying a gun without a license in the District — up to five years in prison — only a few felt comfortable enough to display them. One rioter flashed his handgun at a group of journalists, a moment captured by a Vice reporter.

More gun charges may be coming. We’ll be tracking them here.

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, of Florida, was arrested at a Washington, D.C., hotel on January 4, 2021, for burning a Black Lives Matter flag he stole from a Black church last month. Metropolitan Police Department officers serving the warrant found him in possession of two AR-15/M4-compatible 30-round magazines branded with the Proud Boys insignia.

Harlen Boen, 48, of Colorado was arrested near Freedom Plaza on January 5, 2021, by a Metropolitan Police Department officer who noticed a bulge on his hip. He was found to be in possession of a Glock 23 handgun and a large-capacity magazine holding 13 rounds, which is three rounds over the legal limit in D.C.

Thomas Gronek, 46, of North Carolina was arrested half a mile from the Capitol on January 5, 2021, by Metropolitan Police Department officers who stopped his bus. Upon a search, they found a Springfield XD-S 9mm handgun, a pink .22-caliber Ruger rifle, a 110-round drum magazine, four .9mm magazines, and 275 rounds of ammunition.

Leslie Grimes, 25, of Michigan, was arrested a few blocks from the White House on January 6, 2021, by Metropolitan Police Department officers and charged with carrying a pistol without a license, possession of a large-capacity magazine, and possession of unregistered ammunition. Prosecutors later dropped the charges.

Christopher Michael Alberts, 33, of Maryland, was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center an hour and a half after curfew on the evening of January 6, 2021. A Metropolitan Police Department officer noticed a bulge in his pants and discovered a 9mm Taurus handgun that held 12 rounds — two more than the legal limit — and another magazine holding 12 rounds.

Lonnie Leroy Coffman, 70, of Alabama, was arrested on the evening of January 6, 2021, by a Capitol Police officer who came upon his truck and found an assault-style rifle, a shotgun, three handguns, a large-capacity magazine, and components for 11 molotov cocktails. Police also found a handwritten note with the name of a Muslim House representative on it.

Grant McHoyt Moore, 65, of Georgia, was arrested on January 6, 2021, by a Capitol Police officer who came upon his truck a block away from the Capitol and found a Ruger .380, three loaded six-round magazines, and 12 loose rounds. Moore had a carry license from his home state but the handgun was not registered in D.C. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a license.

Julian Snell, 40, of Virginia, was arrested a few blocks from the White House on January 6, 2021, by a Metropolitan Police Department officer and charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a large-capacity magazine.

Timothy Wolfe, 32, of Virginia was arrested a few blocks from the White House on January 6, 2021, by a Metropolitan Police Department officer and charged with carrying a pistol without a license, possession of a large-capacity magazine, and possession of unregistered ammunition.

Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr. of Colorado was arrested on January 7, 2021, by FBI agents who came to his Washington, D.C., hotel room to investigate a text he’d sent about shooting Nancy Pelosi. He agreed to let the agents search his trailer parked outside and they found a Glock 19, a Tavor X95 assault rifle, and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition.

Samuel Fisher, 35, of New York was arrested in Manhattan on January 20, 2021, and charged with disorderly conduct on restricted grounds and unlawful entry. Based on social media posts and messages, FBI agents allege that Fisher was at the Capitol on January 6, and “in possession of multiple firearms” while in D.C. At his arraignment, prosecutors said he was found with a shotgun, a semiautomatic rifle, a handgun, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition upon his arrest and said more charges could be coming soon. The guns were cited by the judge in his decision to deny Fisher bail.

Mark Sami Ibrahim of California was arrested on July 20, 2021, and charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Prosecutors say Ibrahim, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, entered the Capitol grounds after rioters breached the barricades and showed off his badge and gun to rioters, posing for photos. He was off-duty at the time.

Mark Andrew Mazza, 56, of Indiana was arrested in Shelbyville on November 17, 2021, and charged with unlawfully carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. According to a criminal complaint, a Taurus revolver loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets fell from Mazza’s waistband during a physical altercation with police officers at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He fled with the crowd.

https://www.thetrace.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-firearms-arrests-proud-boys/

[Rick Plant]

Capitol Rioter & Former Militia Oath Keeper Spokesman Testify at Jan. 6 Hearing That Trump Radicalized Extremists

Chilling live testimony at the seventh hearing of the January 6 House select committee hearing came from former Donald Trump supporters who detailed their own radicalization in response to Trump’s actions leading up to the deadly insurrection.

“I think we need to quit mincing words and just talk about truths. And what it was going to be was an armed revolution. I mean, people died that day. Law enforcement officers died this day. There was a gallows set up in front of the Capitol. This could have been the spark that started a new civil war, and no one would have won there,” said Jason Van Tatenhove, former spokesperson for right-wing extremist militia conspiracy group the Oath Keepers.

"It makes me mad,” said Stephen Ayres, a former Trump supporter from Ohio who pleaded guilty last month for illegally entering the Capitol on January 6. “I was hanging on every word he was saying. Everything he was putting out I was following it. If I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people were doing it. Or maybe even still doing it.”

Both men expressed regret for their actions.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Top spokeswoman for Nevada Republican Senate nominee marched on Jan. 6 with Oath Keepers, including one charged with sedition
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/19/politics/courtney-holland-january-6-oath-keepers-kfile/index.html

[Rick Plant]

More on the violent MAGA radical right.

DOJ details evidence that Oath Keeper brought explosives to D.C. area

The evidence underscores the threat prosecutors say the Oath Keepers posed to the transfer of power.



Federal prosecutors indicated Friday they intend to present evidence that a member of the Oath Keepers likely carried grenades in an RV that he drove to the Washington, D.C., area ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

In court papers previewing evidence to be presented in the upcoming seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers leaders, the Justice Department said it believes Jeremy Brown, a group member from Florida, likely traveled to Northern Virginia with grenades that were found by investigators in a subsequent search of his vehicle.

The basis for that evidence, prosecutors said, is a statement from fellow Florida member Kelly Meggs to Caleb Berry — an Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty to his involvement in the alleged conspiracy — that Brown had brought explosives with him in his RV.

“On September 30, 2021, pursuant to an authorized search warrant, the government seized two illegal short barrel firearms from Brown’s residence and military ordinance grenades from Brown’s RV—the same RV that Brown used to travel to Washington, D.C. on January 6,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards said in the filing.

Edwards indicated that investigators are unsure whether Brown stashed these explosives at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, Va., where other members of the group stockpiled firearms and other weapons, or kept them in his vehicle.

The evidence, however, underscores the threat prosecutors say the Oath Keepers posed to the transfer of power. Founder Stewart Rhodes and several other members of the Oath Keepers are facing seditious conspiracy charges. Two members of the group have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. More than a dozen other members are facing felony obstruction charges, and several have pleaded guilty for their involvement and are cooperating with the government.

Prosecutors say they also intend to introduce several other pieces of evidence in the case that they consider relevant to show jurors, even if they’re not part of the underlying charges facing the defendants. That evidence includes details of a trip several of the alleged co-conspirators took to Washington, D.C., in November 2020 to protest the election results. Just as before Jan. 6, the participants in the November trip stashed firearms and other weapons in a vehicle in Arlington, Va., prosecutors say.

Prosecutors also want to introduce evidence at trial that one of the alleged co-conspirators, Thomas Caldwell, kept a “death list” that included the name of a Georgia election official. That list, which the government has previously cited in other court filings, is evidence of Caldwell’s intent to thwart the peaceful transfer of power, prosecutors say. Prosecutors also want to introduce evidence that alleged co-conspirator Jessica Watkins kept bomb-making instructions at her home.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/08/doj-oath-keeper-explosives-jan-6-00044845

[Rick Plant]

These right wing militias are on the side of Donald Trump and the GOP.

Right wing militias were at the Capitol on January 6 taking part in the riot to overthrow the U.S. government.

More than half of Americans view right-wing militia groups as a threat to US: poll



More than half of Americans view right-wing militia groups as a threat to the U.S., with a third saying they pose an “immediate and serious threat” to the country, according to a poll from The Economist/YouGov.

The poll was taken following the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Members of known right-wing extremist groups including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters have been charged in connection with the attack.

The poll also found that 81 percent of those surveyed view domestic terrorism as a threat.

Sixty-six percent view right-wing militia groups as at least a minor threat, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,500 people in mid-January.

Of that number, 13 percent view the militia groups as a minor threat, 20 percent as a somewhat serious threat and 33 percent as an immediate and serious threat.

Broken down by party affiliation, 57 percent of Democrats polled said they view right-wing militia groups as a serious and immediate threat, while just 15 percent of Republican respondents said the same.

But the majority of Republicans — 53 percent of those polled — did say that right-wing militia groups posed at least a minor threat to the U.S., with 17 percent saying they viewed them as a somewhat serious threat and 21 saying they viewed them as a minor threat.

Thirty-one percent of Republicans who responded to the poll said that such groups posed no threat to the country, however, compared with just 1 percent of Democrats.

The Economist/YouGov poll was conducted Jan. 15-18 among 1,500 American citizens sampled randomly. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points for all respondents and 3.1 percent for registered voters.

The Oath Keepers are among the more well-known right-wing militia groups in the U.S. The group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, was recently arrested and, along with other members, charged with seditious conspiracy for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 uprising.

The new poll found 52 percent of Americans surveyed who had heard of the Oath Keepers had a very unfavorable opinion of the group.

Republican respondents who had heard of the group were fairly evenly split, with 36 percent saying they viewed the group either somewhat or very unfavorably and 38 percent saying they viewed them either somewhat or very favorably.

In comparison, 75 percent of Democrats polled who had heard of the group said they had a very unfavorable opinion of the Oath Keepers and an additional 5 percent said they had a somewhat unfavorable opinion.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/590928-more-than-half-of-americans-view-right-wing-militia-groups-as-a/

[Rick Plant]

Inside America's Largest Right Wing Militia

In the backwoods of Georgia, a controversial, right-wing, "anti-terror" militia group gathers once a month to complete field training exercises under the command of Chris Hill—a.k.a Blood Agent. This militia group, called the Georgia III% Security Force, is part of the Three Percenter movement, which is inspired by the unfounded claim that only three percent of colonists fought against the British in the American Revolution.

VICE joins Hill and the Georgia III% Security Force during one of their monthly gatherings to see how they prepare themselves to "defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic" and see what they'll do to protect their guns.

Watch: