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Remember this? Oath Keeper claims she met with Secret Service before Capitol riots
Link to tweet
No paywall
https://archive.ph/twybh
A member of the far-right Oath Keepers charged with rioting at the U.S. Capitol met with Secret Service agents before the siege and received a VIP pass to the rally where then-President Donald Trump spoke, according to a court filing.
A defense attorney for Jessica Watkins said in Saturday’s filing that the Oath Keeper was in Washington, D.C. to “provide security” for the speakers at the Jan. 6 rally, where she stood within 50 feet of the stage.
Watkins is one of nine people linked to the Oath Keepers charged with conspiring to block the certification of the election results in the most sweeping indictment prosecutors have issued so far in the investigation into the violence at the Capitol.
The filing suggests Watkins had a more formal role than previously known at the rally, where hundreds of Trump supporters gathered before walking to the Capitol and forcing their way inside.
In asking a judge to grant Watkins bail, the lawyer, public defender Michelle Peterson, said the government’s filings in the case are “filled with rhetorical flourishes design to inflame the passions of its readers without supporting evidence.”
“Watkins was present not as an insurrectionist, but to provide security to the speakers at the rally,” according to the filing.
The Secret Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the nature of Watkins’ meeting with the agents.
*snip*
15 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I don't remember much more than that.
Lot of Coincidence between TFG and January 6th
Not that that matters to me, but it would seem to matter a lot with her party.
?
Her words
"Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today,” she wrote in one message posted to the social app Parler. “Teargassed, the whole 9. Pushed our way into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even. The news is lying (even Fox) about the Historical Events we created today.”
Court filings indicate that as early as Nov. 9 — less than a week after the election — Watkins was sending text messages inviting people to her group’s basic training in Ohio, telling one person, "l need you fighting fit by innaugeration [sic]."
But Watkins’ attorney, federal public defender Michelle Peterson, argues that she poses no threat and should be allowed to return home with a GPS monitoring device, pending trial.
According to Peterson, Watkins has no history of violence and no prior convictions, and while she acknowledges entering the Capitol, she “did not vandalize anything … or engage in any destruction of property, and in fact, encouraged others not to vandalize.”
The public defender also noted that while in the Capitol, Watkins spoke with police officers, followed their orders, and “participated in medical rescue operations for injured people during the event.” Watkins is a former firefighter and EMT, working for a local fire department in Fayetteville, North Carolina, for several year
The filing notes that when Watkins learned she was wanted for questioning, she “drove nearly eight hours to turn herself in to local police.”
When she did so, according to court papers, authorities were not even aware that she was wanted because her arrest warrant had not yet been entered into the national system.
In a filing last week arguing that she should remain behind bars, prosecutors argued that Watkins, who in 2019 founded the Ohio State Regular Militia and is a dues-paying member of the Oath Keepers, “was thus not an ancillary player who became swept up in the moment, but a key figure who put into motion the violence that overwhelmed the Capitol.”
Watkins, they added, “formed a subset of the most extreme insurgents that plotted then tried to execute a sophisticated plan to forcibly stop the results of a Presidential Election from taking effect.”
Watkins, for her part, argued that she was induced to go to the Capitol by Donald Trump. “Although misguided,” her attorney wrote, “she believed she was supporting the Constitution and her government by providing security services at the rally organized by Mr. Trump and the Republican lawmakers who supported his goals.”
Last week, a federal judge denied a request for release by Thomas Caldwell, a Virginia man accused of coordinating the Capitol raid with Watkins and indicted along with her and the others. Caldwell “represents not just a danger to the community but to the fabric of democracy,” Judge Amit Mehta said.
Meet The Woman Facing Some Of The Most Serious Capitol Riot Charges
Jessica Garrison Jan. 27, 2021
Arrows point to Sandra Parker, Donovan Crowl, and Jessica Watkins all wearing tactical gear in the middle of a large crowd inside the Capitol
An Oath Keeper Charged In The Capitol Riot Texted She "Wouldn't Worry" About The FBI A Week Before Her Arrest
Zoe Tillman Feb. 19, 2021
Prosecutors Say A Member Of The Oath Keepers Conspiracy Was "Awaiting Direction" From Trump Before The Capitol Attack
Zoe Tillman Feb. 11, 2021
Contact Jessica Garrison at jessica.garrison@buzzfeed.co
Contact Ken Bensinger at ken.bensinger@buzzfeed.com.
Contact Zoe Tillman at zoe.tillman@buzzfeed.com.
goldblooded92
1 year ago
I am speaking on behalf of the trans community when I say we don’t claim her
124people love this comment
RadRae
1 year ago
i think the reason she’s being “treated harshly” is because she stormed the capital building and tried to dismantle the democracy over false claims
114people love this comment
gabriellarenee
1 year ago
wait wasn’t trump the one who decided to not allow transgendered people in the military????
