Oath Keeper repents for Jan. 6 at trial, blames 'regular weight loss plan' of right-wing conspiracies

A member of the far-right militia the Oath Keepers on Wednesday mentioned it was a “actually silly” choice to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, saying she was fed a “regular weight loss plan” of conspiracy theories and have become “simply one other fool” within the mob that day.

Jessica Watkins, a former bar proprietor in Ohio and an Military veteran, took the stand on Wednesday in a high-stakes trial charging Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and 4 different militia members with the not often used cost of seditious conspiracy.

Watkins, who has been locked up for 2 years following her arrest within the case, mentioned she didn’t intend to cease certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory when she stormed the Capitol in a navy stack formation with different Oath Keepers, in line with The Related Press.

She additionally mentioned she didn’t obtain any instructions from her militia group to enter the federal constructing that day.

In accordance with the AP, Watkins defined she was given a “regular weight loss plan” of conspiracy theories in regards to the 2020 election from “Infowars” host Alex Jones, who was lately ordered to pay greater than $1 billion for spreading a conspiracy in regards to the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings in Connecticut.

Watkins, Rhodes and three different Oath Keeper members on trial resist 20 years in jail if convicted on the seditious conspiracy fees. Closing arguments might start as early as this week within the trial, which started in late September.

Prosecutors have accused the defendants of plotting to overthrow the federal government not lengthy after the 2020 election, charging them with organizing militia members to assemble on Jan. 6 and of stashing weapons at a Virginia lodge earlier than the rioting.

When he took the stand, Rhodes additionally mentioned it was “silly” for Oath Keepers members to cost into the Capitol and repeated that he by no means meant to overturn certification of the 2020 election.

Reasonably, Rhodes mentioned he and different militia members have been awaiting orders from former President Trump to invoke an outdated sequence of legal guidelines often known as the Rebellion Act, which permits the commander-in-chief to name up a militia to quell a home disturbance.

However Watkins on Wednesday mentioned there was no plan to invoke the Rebellion Act, in line with The Washington Submit.

“There was discuss of the Rebellion Act, however nobody was taking it severely. I’d put it beneath the Chinese language invading,” Watkins mentioned.

On Wednesday, one other Oath Keepers member, Thomas Caldwell, additionally testified.

Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer, mentioned he was not severe when he wrote messages to the militia group about ferrying “heavy weapons” throughout the Potomac River into Oath Keepers’ “ready arms,” in line with the AP.

Caldwell referred to as these messages “inventive writing.”