“A Tale of an American Political Prisoner”

Part 11.1: The Federal Courthouse; Washington, DC

–The “OathKeeper 1” Trial: The Defense Case In Chief Part 1–

by: Jessica Watkins (X: @J6ssicaWatkins)

A True Story; 100% verifiable with Courtroom Transcripts, Evidentiary Exhibits, Court Documents and Testimony.

By this point, our trial had dragged on for nearly 2 months. The Government blew their wad (and frankly their credibility) on attempting to make us “look scary”. Instead, all they did is prove how biased the Biden DoJ and FBI was. And, I think our Jury saw right through their charade. But the Media loved it! The Gallery was FULL of Journalists, their pens scrawling frantically in their notepads; writing in a flurry as they wrote down all the “juicy details” that the Government presented. But when the Defense cross-examined Government witnesses, the Media closed their notepads, stood up, and walked smooth out of the Courtroom. They had no interest in covering “the whole story”. All they wanted was the sensationalist tidbits fed to them by the Prosecution. It doesn’t surprise me at all. Every day during the Government’s Case in Chief, the Courtroom was PACKED with Journalists (and a smattering of curious DC Socialite rubberneckers)! But when the Defense began their Case in Chief, they were all gone. Suddenly the Courtroom was a ghost town. All that was left were our J6 supporters (<3) in the Gallery: Micki, Nicole and others from Freedom Corner (which had been going on for months by then). But, only one journalist remained; a Conservative voice that would be persecuted for his tireless attendance (more on him later). But he was all alone; the other journalists scurried off to their rat-holes, completely uninterested in reporting on anything that deviated from the “approved” January 6 narrative.

I find it illustrative of the ingrained bias of the Media/Government partnership. Sure the truth would FINALLY be exposed; everything would be ON THE RECORD in Court Transcripts. And yes, I was eager for my Jury to see the truth too. But the Media didn’t want to hear it. Almost makes me wish that OJ was one of our Codefendants. So while I should have expected the Media to close their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears saying “LALALALA can’t hear you!”, it still kinda pissed me off. They weren’t even present in the room to present the appearance of providing fair coverage. But there WAS ONE member of the Media still present, @SteveBaker from TheBlaze. Just knowing that we weren’t completely forgotten during the moment of (literal) truth meant the world to me. Little would he know at the time, @SteveBaker would be Indicted and become a J6er himself; most certainly for his reporting on our Trial and the perjury by Special Agent Lazarus and Officer Harry Dunn. With the Government’s Case in Chief over… it was OUR turn, and Steve was there to capture the details that the Government didn’t see fit to discuss. We had to set things straight. The Government’s case was all over the place… jumping forward and backward in time, or showing guns at random and seemingly inappropriate moments. The Heavy Metal video was played so often, that the song wasn’t even catchy anymore; the video was just plain annoying. Now that the Government had ended their Case, the Defense was next to present our arguments. First to present evidence for the Defense were the attorneys for Stewart Rhodes, and on DAY 1 the Government began to deliberately sabotage our Case in Chief.

Rhodes had a litany of witnesses prepared, subpoenaed, interviewed, and ready to offer their testimony; each person providing a critical alibi to show that we not only DID NOT engage in Seditious Conspiracy, but that we intended to keep things lawful. Each of these witnesses was approached by the DoJ/FBI and told that if they testified, that they would be “opening themselves up to a Seditious Conspiracy Charge”. On Day 1, the Feds were openly engaging in Witness Tampering (violating the 1512 statute, actually). Yeah, don’t take MY word for it. Pull the Courtroom transcripts. Jeffery Nestler came right out and said it. They threatened our witnesses with Seditious Conspiracy, and the Prosecutors OPENLY told the Media that they were seeking to put us in prison facing LIFE! Can I be any more clear? In so doing, the DoJ and FBI told our witnesses, “If you testify for the Defense, you could be charged with Seditious Conspiracy and face a Life Sentence”. Welcome to Joe Biden’s America. One of the witnesses suddenly “had heart problems” and needed to go to the hospital. Another one that was represented by the Public Defenders Office was reprimanded by his Counsel. The witness STILL wanted to testify on our behalf DESPITE the potential repercussions. But ultimately his Public Defender talked him out of it a mere 5 minutes before he came into the Courtroom. That witness was in the hallway waiting, when his attorney barged in and pulled the plug. But small surprise, that attorney was extremely Liberal and hostile towards our Defense attorneys. Our case was steadily being dismantled before we were even able to present it. As all the witnesses began to get cold feet. Jeffery Nestler sat across the Courtroom, confident that he had sabotaged our case fully; a smug look smeared across his weasel face as Stanley Woodward raised his concerns to Judge Mehta about the ethics being used by the Government. But there was nothing we could do; we couldn’t force the witnesses to testify. But there was still ONE witness willing to come forward and do the right thing.

Whipp had been Stewart’s second in command of the OathKeepers for quite some time, often serving as the OathKeeper’s Leader for Ground Operations. He had been in Louisville when BLM swarmed us in the parking lot. He had been at the Capitol on January 6th. He had likely been at dozens of events for the OathKeepers. He was an Army veteran and (I think) a Firefighter, he had served in Iraq, and he had worked for a company called Triple Canopy – a Private Military Contractor for the Department of Defense. His record of service was exemplary, and he was African American, so the Prosecution wanted to keep him off the stand. DESPERATELY. His testimony and his skin color… well, they would undermine their efforts to portray us as hateful racist conspiracy theorist insurrectionist supremacist extremists. The Heavy Metal video (which they loved so so much) would just seem like a waste. So naturally, they threatened Whipp with Seditious Conspiracy, but he did not care. We were innocent. His testimony was concise, funny, harsh and eloquent with just a dash of street smarts and profanity. He made it clear, there was no plan. No conspiracy. The cell phones weren’t even working because the cell towers were overloaded. he stated that he was impressed with my service and said that he “…was impressed how squared away and knowledgeable Ms. Watkins was”. He stated that Meggs and Harrelson were honorable and professional, and kept their cool under pressure. The Government was PISSED. His testimony was unimpeachable. Every statement he made could be corroborated by evidence. I think the Jury liked him. Hell, I KNOW Judge Mehta liked him, and trusted his testimony. When Whipp had his Bench Trial before Judge Mehta, he ruled that Whipp was NOT GUILTY. I was (and still am) proud of Michael “Whipp” Greene for his testimony. But the looks coming from Jeffery Nestler’s could have curdled fresh milk.