Oath Keeper testifies that large weapons cache was prepared in Virginia ahead of Jan. 6 riot

Terry Cummings, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, told a jury on Wednesday that members had put together a large weapons cache in a Virginia hotel room the night before rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cummings, a 21-year military veteran from Oregon who has not been charged with a crime, was in Washington on the day of the attack and testified in court after receiving a subpoena. 

The weapons cache is a key component of the Justice Department's case against Oath Keepers leadership, including founder Stewart Rhodes and codefendants Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell. Each is on trial for multiple felony counts, the most serious being seditious conspiracy, and all have pleaded not guilty.

Cummings — the first Oath Keepers member who was actually in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 to testify at trial — said he brought an AR-15 and ammunition box with him to Virginia in case of rioting in the district, calling the weapon a "show of force," but he claimed he did not intend on using it offensively. He kept the firearm with others brought by fellow Oath Keepers in a hotel room in Virginia, according to his testimony, because he knew bringing the weapon into the District of Columbia would be illegal.