Capitol Police continues to retaliate against employees who file whistleblower complaints with the Capitol Police Office of Inspector General, a U.S. House oversight panel was told on July 19. “Numerous whistleblowers have come forward with claims of retaliation and abuse after speaking with the Office of Inspector General,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of […]

Three undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers joined the march of protesters up the northwest side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—including one who climbed over a barricade and pushed others toward the Capitol, and another who walked behind Ashli Babbitt and predicted that “someone will get shot,” according to newly disclosed court documents. New […]

Despite ruling that the Oath Keepers took concrete actions to overthrow the U.S. government on Jan. 6, 2021, an Alaska judge concluded on Dec. 23 that state Rep. David Eastman cannot be barred from office under the Alaska Constitution because he is a member of the Oath Keepers. Alaska Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna issued […]

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III testified on Dec. 19 in an Alaska civil trial that he never ordered anyone into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and that the nearly yearlong federal prosecution of him amounts to “persecution by our political enemies.” Speaking from the Alexandria City Jail in Virginia, Rhodes told […]

The federal judge overseeing the Oath Keepers seditious-conspiracy trial in Washington, D.C., twice refused to allow defense testimony on Nov. 14 from an Oath Keeper and retired New York police sergeant who led the rescue of 16 U.S. Capitol Police officers on the east side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Judge Amit Mehta watched […]

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to jail five members of a Texas family for their 52-minute walk through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, under a plea deal for “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.” Members of the Munn family of Borger, Texas, did not commit violent acts, damage property, […]

Four Oath Keepers and an associate accused of seditious conspiracy on Jan. 6, 2021, filed an emergency motion for a change of trial venue, citing new research that nearly 70 percent of Washington respondents hold a negative view of the Oath Keepers, much higher than those in three other federal court districts. Attorneys for Oath […]

Defense attorneys in the Oath Keepers seditious-conspiracy trial renewed their request to block federal prosecutors from mentioning two hand grenades allegedly brought to the Washington area after they discovered that DNA found on the grenades does not belong to Florida Oath Keepers member Jeremy Brown. Attorneys for Oath Keepers defendants Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs […]

Defense attorneys want to depose a retired U.S. Army colonel and test pilot—among the longest serving members of the Oath Keepers—regarding the group’s long-standing role in providing security at events, civil disturbances, and natural disasters. Retired Col. John Siemens, 76, would provide exculpatory testimony benefitting the five defendants in the Oath Keepers seditious-conspiracy trial, but […]

Dr. Simone Gold, the founder of America’s Frontline Doctors who was jailed for 60 days for giving a speech on COVID-19 and medical freedom at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is being released from federal detention two weeks early. Gold will be released from the Miami Federal Detention Center just in time for […]

Michael Stenger, the former U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms who was in charge of Senate security during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, died on June 27. The circumstances and cause of Stenger’s death were not immediately clear. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) posted on Twitter that Stenger “was found dead today.” Stenger, […]

Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd produced no reports on his fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt and refused to give an official statement to investigators, but he agreed to a “voluntary debriefing” in which he stated if the “mob of rioters” outside the Speaker’s Lobby at the Capitol gained entry, “it wasn’t going to go well.” […]

The trials of nine members of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy and obstructing a government proceeding were moved back to September 26 and November 29 under a ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington D.C. on May 6. During a May 6 status conference, Judge Mehta agreed to a defense […]

Nearly three out of four District of Columbia residents are likely to find Jan. 6 defendants guilty in federal court, while 85 percent believe the events of Jan. 6 were criminal acts including insurrection, an attack, or a riot, a survey by two defense attorneys found. Results of the survey by Inlux Research + Analytics […]

At least 20 FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives “assets” were embedded around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a defense attorney wrote in a court filing on April 12. The disclosure was made in a motion seeking to dismiss seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges against 10 Oath Keepers defendants in one […]

Eleven members of the Oath Keepers, including the group’s founder Stewart Rhodes, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for an alleged “seditious conspiracy” to attack the U.S. Capitol and prevent the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. The indictment, returned Jan. 12 and unsealed Thursday, […]

The hardened-steel baton made the most disturbing sound as it bounced off Victoria White’s skull. It varied between a hollow click and a deeper snap, depending on where on her head the metal weapon made contact. “Please don’t beat her!” a man in the crowd yelled. It was chaos in the West Terrace tunnel entrance […]