Several Oath Keepers have been accused by prosecutors and leftist media of seditiously plotting an attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to prevent certification of the Electoral College votes.
Video from the scene, however, shows some of those accused of inciting "insurrection" rushing into the Capitol building to help Capitol Police who were said to be trapped inside.
The Epoch Times noted in a May 10 report that Lt. Tarik Khalid Johnson is seen in the video asking a group of men to help him get more than a dozen trapped Capitol Police officers out of the Capitol.
"The men who answered the call to help were members of the Oath Keepers, a nationwide group of current and former military, law enforcement, and first responders who have been targeted by federal prosecutors for allegedly conspiring to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021," the report noted.
“The prosecutors’ narrative has more holes than Swiss cheese, but it [the video] does directly refute their claim,” said attorney Jonathon Moseley, who previously represented Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs.
Prosecutors “just keep ignoring the self-contradictions in their stories,” Moseley said.
The video (see below) was shot by part-time filmmaker Rico La Starza. One of several versions of the video posted online includes an introduction by La Starza. He said the video shows “me helping a group of Oath Keepers help Capitol Police get out. They looked scared and tired.”
Attorney Brad Geyer said the video should open a lot of eyes about the Oath Keepers.
“America would probably find it surprising, based on how the Oath Keepers had been framed in these now seven superseding indictments,” said Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson. “But as far as reality is concerned, this is just another day at doing security details.”
In all, 16 Capitol Police officers were brought out of the Capitol by the Oath Keepers. All but one of the officers were wearing heavy riot gear, The Epoch Times noted.
The Wall Street Journal posted the rescue video with a story about Johnson on Jan. 15, 2021. The Journal referred to the Oath Keepers as an “anti-government militia group,” a term the group flatly rejects. Johnson was suspended for wearing the MAGA hat, which reports said he donned as a "ruse" to get through the protesters and to his colleagues inside the Capitol.
“We were there as a force of good,” Oath Keepers member Roberto Minuta, who was also part of the rescue operation, told The Epoch Times. “I was with the Oath Keepers, and we’ve always done positive work, disaster relief, protecting businesses, aiding people that need help.
“We have no history of violence and no intention of violence,” said Minuta, one of nine Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy on January 6. “We are strictly there to protect the First Amendment because we can’t have one side that’s permitted to have free speech and the other that’s not. That’s not America. That’s not what this country was founded on and when that’s gone, my children’s future looks grim.”
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