The House committee investigating the January 6 attack released an audio recording Thursday in which members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia react in real-time to one of former President Donald Trump’s tweets as his supporters stormed and ransacked the U.S. Capitol.
The new audio makes clear the militia members were emboldened by Trump’s response to the attack, which urged rioters to “please support our Capitol Police, they are on our side.”
Communicating via a walkie-talkie app, Oath Keepers who were inside the Capitol and in other locations responded positively to Trump’s message, with one noting that “he didn’t say not to do anything to the congressmen.”
“He did not ask them to stand down,” said another person on the recording.
After one militia member read off a news alert that lawmakers had been evacuated to a safe room, another replied, “There’s no safe place in the United States for any of these motherfuckers right now, let me tell you.”
“Military principle 105,” the man added. “Cave means grave.”
The Select Committee has obtained a recording of communications over a walkie-talkie app among Oath Keepers who were inside the Capitol and others who were sharing intelligence from elsewhere.
Listen to how they reacted to President Trump’s 2:38 tweet in real-time. pic.twitter.com/0ZzJ1E37w0
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) September 15, 2022
A number of Oath Keepers, including the group’s founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, have been charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection to their roles in the January 6 insurrection.
“January 6th was a coordinated attack, fueled by the former president and the Big Lie,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) tweeted Thursday. “Everyone involved must be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
The House January 6 committee published the Oath Keepers audio recording as it prepares to hold its second round of public hearings on the Capitol attack on September 28.
The Justice Department, which has been observing the January 6 hearings and examining the committee’s findings, is currently investigating Trump directly as part of its criminal probe of the Capitol attack.
In an interview earlier Thursday with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump threatened “big problems” if the Justice Department chooses to indict him over the January 6 attack, which he helped incite with constant lies about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, who is also facing a Justice Department investigation for removing classified documents from the White House, said a DOJ indictment would not stop him from running for president in 2024.
Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote on Twitter that “Trump warning of ‘big problems’ if he’s indicted is incredibly troubling, given his past history of inciting an insurrection.”
“This is dangerous rhetoric from him,” Bookbinder added, “and underscores once again his lack of regard for democracy and the rule of law.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy