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US prosecutors indict 9 Oath Keepers militia members

Saturday, 20 February 2021 7:30 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 7:30 PM ]

Members of the National Guard continue to stand watch along the temporary security fence that surrounds the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 17, 2021. (File photo by AFP)

The US Justice Department has charged nine members of the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers for taking part in the deadly January 6 raid on the Capitol Hill.

Prosecutors on Friday indicted six people allegedly connected to Oath Keepers.

Three members of the group were charged earlier for conspiring to storm the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Six people, namely Ohio residents Sandra Ruth Parker, 60, and her husband Bennie Alvin Parker, 70, Graydon Young, 54, of Florida, Kelly Meggs, 52, and his wife Connie Meggs, 59, also of Florida, and Laura Steele, 52, of North Carolina, were indicted with two Ohioans, Jessica Watkins, 38, and Donovan Crowl, 50, in addition to Thomas Edward Caldwell, 65, of Virginia.

Caldwell is accused of having a leadership role in the Oath Keepers militia.

The indictment accused the far-right group of making plans and plotting to storm the Capitol in a military-style attack that even made preparations for an armed “quick reaction force” outside the Capitol that would take immediate action if then-President Donald Trump ordered such a military-style attack.

The FBI has been investigating whether far-right fringe groups, such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, plotted in advance to turn the disputed 2020 US presidential election by impeding the election certification.

At least 18 members of the Proud Boys have been charged among other defendants.

Military officers complicit in capitol insurrection

The Pentagon has launched a probe into extremist views from within the US military complex as the body finally comes to terms with reality and accepts that racism is rooted deep within the American system.

On January 6, Trump took to a stage near the White House and ordered his loyalists, who had gathered there from all across the country, to “fight” – using the word more than 20 times.

Trump told the crowd that “everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol.” About 50 minutes into the speech, many of them did.

Capitol Hill violence result of ‘decades of division’

An American political analyst believes that the violence at the Capitol Hill on Wednesday is the result of “decades of division.”

A recent poll showed that most people in the United States believe that Trump was responsible for inciting violence in the Capitol episode despite his acquittal in an impeachment trial.

Most Americans said they believed Trump should not be allowed to hold elected office in the future, according to the poll.

People in the United States mostly think Trump was not only to blame for inciting the violence but also for stoking racism in the US society during his presidency.

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