File photo Jon Schaffer has entered a plea agreement in six federal crimes for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge is allowing prosecutors to share “sealed materials” from a criminal case against a local man who pleaded guilty to participating in the violent Jan. 6 Capitol attack with attorneys representing leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers militia accused of seditious conspiracy.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta granted a motion Friday filed by federal prosecutors, allowing them to provide in discovery “sealed materials” from the criminal case against former Columbus resident Jon Schaffer to the defendants in at least three cases being brought against members of the militia group.
Those cases include charges of seditious conspiracy filed against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Discovery is the process in which lawyers on both sides share evidence before trial.
The order came just two days after a federal grand jury indicted Rhodes, 56, of Granbury, Texas, and 10 other members of the far-right militia group for seditious conspiracy. They were the first sedition charges filed in the sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack that has resulted in the arrest of more than 725 pro-Trump rioters who violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Schaffer, who is best known as a member of the heavy metal band Iced Earth, pleaded guilty in April to breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, armed with bear repellent. He also pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
As part of his guilty plea, Schaffer acknowledged that he is “a founding, lifetime member of the Oath Keepers” and believes that “the federal government has been ‘co-opted’ by a cabal of elites actively trying to strip American citizens of their rights.” The Oath Keepers is a militia group that recruits current and former military, police and first responders.
Schaffer previously agreed to cooperate with investigators in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. The Justice Department has promised to consider putting him in the witness security program, suggesting it saw him as a valuable cooperator in the probe, The Associated Press reported.
The order states federal prosecutors may provide the materials from the Schaffer case to the defendants in the Rhodes case, as well as cases against Jonathan Walden, 57, a former Alabama firefighter and emergency medical technician who investigators say brought an 82-pound German Shepherd trained for security patrols into the Capitol during the attack, and Donovan Crowl, 51, a former U.S. Marine from Ohio who also faces several charges related to the attack.
However, “this order also applies to the disclosure of the materials … to any co-defendants who may later be joined,” Mehta wrote in the order.
The indictment last week of Rhodes and 10 other members or associates marked a serious escalation in the largest investigation in the Justice Department’s history, according to wire reports.
Federal prosecutors, after a year of investigating the insurrection, charged them with seditious conspiracy, a rarely-used Civil War-era statute reserved for only the most serious of political criminals.
Court filings show how quickly former President Donald Trump’s most fervent and dangerous supporters mobilized to subvert the election results through force and violence, even though there was no widespread election fraud and Trump’s cabinet and local election officials said the vote had been free and fair, according to wire reports.
On Nov. 9, 2020, Rhodes instructed his followers during a GoToMeeting call to go to Washington to let Trump know “that the people are behind him,” and he expressed hope that Trump would call up the militia to help stay in power, court documents state.
“It will be a bloody and desperate fight,” Rhodes warned, according to court records. “We are going to have a fight. That can’t be avoided.”
The Oath Keepers worked as if they were going to war, discussing weapons and training, according to the AP. Days before the attack on the Capitol, one defendant suggested in a text message getting a boat to ferry weapons across the Potomac River to their “waiting arms,” prosecutors say.
On Dec. 14, 2020, as the electors in the states cast their votes, Rhodes published a letter on the Oath Keepers’ website “advocating for the use of force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power,” according to the documents.
As that transition in Washington drew close, Oath Keepers spoke of an arsenal they would keep just a few minutes away and grab if needed, according to wire reports. Rhodes is accused of spending $15,500 on firearms and related equipment including a shotgun, AR-15, mounts, triggers, scopes and magazines, prosecutors said.
“We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” Rhodes wrote fellow members, according to court documents. “Too late for that. Prepare your mind. body. spirit.”
Others came prepared, too, according to court documents.
“Everyone coming has their own technical equipment and knows how to use it,” wrote Edward Vallejo, who also was charged in the conspiracy.
Oath Keepers staged the guns in hotels just outside of the District of Columbia, according to wire reports. Rhodes said they were “QRFs” — military-speak for quick reaction force, according to court papers.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Vallejo and others were on a podcast discussing the possibility of armed conflict. Members turned up wearing camouflaged combat attire and in helmets. They entered the Capitol with the large crowds of rioters who stormed past police barriers and smashed windows, injuring dozens of officers and sending lawmakers running.
The indictment against Rhodes alleges Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” a military term, according to the AP. The first stack split up inside the building to separately go after the House and Senate. The second stack confronted officers inside the Capitol Rotunda, the indictment said.
One of the stacks hunted for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., but could not find her.
So far, more than 725 people have been charged. Most face lower-level crimes of entering a restricted building, according to wire reports. About 150 people have been charged with assaulting police officers at the Capitol. And members of another far-right group the Proud Boys have been indicted on simple conspiracy charges that bring five years behind bars if convicted.
Rhodes was arrested Thursday and faced a judge on Friday who ordered him held in custody. After the hearing, his lawyers said he entered a not guilty plea and plans to fight the charges against him.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
