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View: https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1354860570403614720?s=20
One person who stormed the Capitol, a self-described leader of a militia group, solicited recruits shortly after Election Day for a “basic training class” ahead of the inauguration, prosecutors claim in an indictment filed Wednesday, the latest indication that the authorities believe the violence at the Capitol was a coordinated and planned attack.
In a 15-page court document, prosecutors brought new allegations against three rioters who they said had connections to militia groups, claiming that they initiated a plan to recruit “as large a following as possible” ahead of Jan. 6. Jessica Marie Watkins of Champaign County, Ohio, who prosecutors say was a member of the far-right Oath Keepers, sent messages to a number of potential recruits for the Ohio State Regular Militia just six days after the November election. Donovan Ray Crowl, 50, whom the F.B.I. has identified as a member of the same Ohio militia group, attended a training camp in North Carolina in December.
Ms. Watkins, 38, who described herself on social media as a commanding officer of the Ohio group, told the recruits that the group was planning a weeklong “Basic Training class” in early January. She told one recruit, “I need you fighting fit” by Inauguration Day and told another that the training class was a “military style” exercise run by a Marine drill sergeant, prosecutors said.
“Biden may still yet be our president,” Ms. Watkins wrote when asked by a recruit about her predictions for 2021. “If he is, our way of life as we know it is over. Our Republic would be over. Then it is our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights.”
Thomas Edward Caldwell, 65, another rioter included in the indictment and an apparent leader of the Oath Keepers, told Ms. Watkins that he believed “we have to get violent to stop this.” The next month, Mr. Caldwell, who is from Virginia, made plans to stay at a hotel in Arlington, Va., for the days around the Capitol rampage, the indictment states.
Evidence revealed earlier had already pointed to a potential conspiracy among rioters. A prosecutor in a hearing for Mr. Crowl, also a resident of Ohio, told the federal magistrate judge, “He’s been preparing for literal war.”
