Former Oath Keepers member says leader Stewart Rhodes may have been in contact with Secret Service agent months before Jan. 6 attack
CBSN
Washington – A one-time member of the far-right Oath Keepers told a jury that he was led to believe that the group's leader, Stewart Rhodes, had the phone number belonging to a U.S. Secret Service agent and that Rhodes had been in contact with that individual in the months before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
John Zimmerman, a former member of the North Carolina chapter of the militia group and military veteran, testified that Rhodes told him of the alleged connection with the agent during a Sept 2020, phone call between Rhodes and the individual who Zimmerman thought was the Secret Service agent ahead of a Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Zimmerman, called as a government witness in the case, said that although he couldn't hear the other end of the call, Rhodes led him to believe he had spoken with the agent about gun laws in the D.C. area ahead of the rally.
Rhodes and four codefendants – Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, and Thomas Caldwell – are on trial for multiple charges stemming from their alleged planning for and participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including the high crime of seditious conspiracy. Each has pleaded not guilty.
