“A Tale of an American Political Prisoner”
Part 11.3: The Federal Courthouse; Washington, DC
–The “OathKeeper 1” Trial: The Defense Case In Chief Part 3–
by: Jessica Watkins (X: @J6ssicaWatkins)
A True Story; 100% verifiable with Courtroom Transcripts, Evidentiary Exhibits, Court Documents and Testimony.
After Stewart Rhodes testified, the next Case in Chief was Tom Caldwell’s; if you thought that the Government’s witnesses were a s***show, they were soon to have a close rival. But first, let me lay some groundwork on Tom himself. For the events of January 6th, he had no connection to the OathKeepers at all, aside from helping me find a hotel and helping us find parking. That’s it. Aside from this, everything he had done/said was either on his own, or in relation the the North Carolina OathKeepers. They had split off and made their own group called “The Sentinels” or “The Guardians” or some such. I don’t remember, but it was something along those lines. After the Million MAGA March, they had become so disgruntled with the OathKeepers that they had split off entirely. I felt similarly; I said as much on numerous occasions, including on text messages. My husband @MontanaSiniff, Donovan Crowl and Tom Caldwell were also of a similar opinion. The Million MAGA March left a bad taste in a lot of our mouths; that OathKeepers National had gotten “too big for their britches” so to speak. It seemed that marketing & donations, or Stewart constantly giving speeches or doing interviews, and his obsession with expanding the media presence of the OathKeepers was taking precedent over assisting the Public and Law Enforcement, and providing our Security Details. We all felt “some kinda way” after the Million MAGA March. But the North Carolina chapter, which was massive, felt it necessary to break off from the OathKeepers entirely. However, the Government’s case hinged around tying us all together: Stewart >>> Meggs >>> Me >>> Tom >>> NC (Sentinels/Guardians). The problem was, that there was no “Conspiracy” tying any of this daisy chain together. No messages, no phone calls. Nothing.
If you reverse the chain, the North Carolina guys and Tom talked a LOT; The Government talked about those messages for DAYS in our Trial. Basically random thoughts and plans; none of which were illegal; none of which involved the Election, Capitol, or Certification; none of which had nefarious purposes. Something about a boat on the Potomac. (Why even?) But Tom never told ME their plans. THEY never told ME. And NONE of their plans were ever carried out; all of which only involved protecting people from Antifa. There’s a reason why no North Carolina guys got arrested; they didn’t do anything. But, their talk about “weapons” was used against us in Trial, despite the irrelevancies to J6. Tom had talked with them at length, doing what he called “reccies” (recon) taking pictures around BLM Plaza. He also found places where Antifa types gathered, and port-a-potties for the rally at the Ellipse. Basically nothing J6 relevant. But again, the Government acted like the pictures were tantamount to espionage. It was laughable. Like, “Ooooh! port-a-potties! scary! Awww snap! Homeless people tents!” Yeah. Our Jury didn’t look impressed either. At the end of the day, all Tom did was help me find a hotel and parking. The last time I saw Tom on J6 was at the White House Ellipse, early in the morning. Like 8am or so. I gave him and his wife a t-shirt, and they left. After the President’s speech, they went to the Capitol, meandered up onto the inaugural stage, and when things got bad he and his wife left. When Tom made it to the Capitol, he tried to text/call me – telling me about kids being teargassed – but I never received a call or a text. The cell towers were overloaded, and neither went through. The Government would lie about this later, and worse, they would use his cell data to RetCon history and fabricate evidence. More on that later.
Tom’s wife, Sharon, got up on the witness stand and testified on his behalf; being an eyewitness to his behaviors that day. Yes, that’s right, she too was there that day. She watched everything in person, and even filmed him. I love Tom’s wife to death. She’s such a sweetheart, and is very helpful for Tom with his medical issues. You see, Tom is a 100% disabled veteran, with severe back problems. He can walk, but not particularly well. The Government wanted to make it seem like he was going all Jackie Chan, leaping over barricades and storming the Capitol. Not even close. He hobbled across the lawn, and up some stairs and stood around for a few minutes. All he did (at worst) was trespass on a stage. He never entered the building. He never attacked Police or destroyed anything. All he did was say a lot of crazy rhetoric on text messages like “they’re in the tunnels, turn on the gas”. Really crazy s***. Now, I don’t condone that kinda talk, but at the end of the day… it’s just that. Talk. Hyperbole. And none of that talk was sent to me, Donovan, or anyone else in the Oath Keepers. It was sent to people like his Lawn Mowing guy, or his Roofer. So what his text messages had to do with me, or anyone else… it makes no sense. But, because Tom helped us find parking and a hotel, well… the Government used that as an opportunity to use HIS crazy s*** against all of us, as “evidence” of a Conspiracy. It’s every bit as weak as it sounds. The Government had no credibility in their argument, so I am not sure why he (or his attorney for that matter) felt it necessary to put him on the witness stand.
When Tom took the witness stand, I expected him to be austere. Instead, he came off as … *sigh* …again, I don’t like to badmouth people… I like Tom… but his testimony was a freakin’ joke, in my opinion. It came off as flippant, insincere, I don’t know… it wasn’t good. I wish he had just let Sharon do all the talking. She was a great witness. His testimony was god-awful. On cross-examination, it was WAY worse. At one point there was a text message about “stacking the bodies high” or some such. It sounded, well… as bad as it sounds. Granted, again, I think it wasn’t serious. Just hyped up rhetoric. The guy is in his late 60’s, he couldn’t stack firewood, let alone bodies. It was clearly overcharged rhetoric. But when the Prosecution asked what he meant, instead of just saying “I was pissed off, and spouting off at the mouth”, he just gave a snapshot answer. “Call Of Duty. I was probably giving advice about Call Of Duty, the video game”. Ummm. Wat? (:/) Seriously. Wat? So, the art-brigade that we are, never missed a beat. Kelly Meggs drew a mock “video game cover” with a stick figure of a guy with a walker and “Call of Duty 2020: Insurrection” and passed it to me. I went purple laughing again, and added my own twist: a rifle and a Boat on the Potomac. We were all biting our tongues off, trying not to laugh. I pulled my COVID Mask up to my eyeballs, trying to hide the tears streaming down my face. Me, Kenny, Kelly… all of us were turning shades of purple and red with laughter. The “Call of Duty Tom” meme would be the highlight of the day. I still have it actually. I’ll try to have Montana take a picture of it for you. I digress. Tom’s Case in Chief ended with… that, basically. Next to present a Case in Chief was Stanley Woodward for Kelly Meggs. Stanley was my favorite attorney on our team (except for mine of course), and one of the best we had. I was eager for him to right the proverbial ship.
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