An FBI document being kept from the public under court seal undermines the government’s seditious-conspiracy case against the Oath Keepers, shows that the indicted members of the group “are not guilty,” and “proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury,” a former Oath Keepers attorney said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times on Oct. 7.
Jonathon Moseley, who previously represented Oath Keepers defendant Kelly Meggs before his law license was revoked, said an FBI interview with a U.S. Capitol Police officer shows the Oath Keepers protected the officer from an angry mob near the Capitol Rotunda on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021.
“This document—together with a photograph of the moment inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6—proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury,” Moseley said in the statement (pdf). “No one who engages in seditious conspiracy or insurrection stops to come to the aid of the police against the mob.
“If the Oath Keepers were involved in any way in any insurrection or conspiracy to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, would they turn and stand between the U.S. Capitol Police against the mob?” Moseley asked. “This is not merely a good act. This is absolute proof that there never was any insurrection or seditious conspiracy. The prosecution’s entire case is a fraud upon the American people.”
William Miller, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, declined to comment on Moseley’s statements. “We typically do not comment on cases beyond our public statements and filings to the court, and have no comment,” Miller told The Epoch Times in an email.
The FBI document in question, a Form 302 summary of officer Harry Dunn’s interview with two special agents, came up in open court on Oct. 6 during the seditious-conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and four co-defendants, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell.
Judge Issues Public Warning
Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler informed Judge Amit Mehta that Moseley was “threatening” to release a sealed document. In response, Mehta took the unusual step of suggesting the news media covering the trial post messages to Moseley on social media saying that he would be jailed if he released the document.
Judge Mehta is back. Nestler is now talking about a weird thing involving a lawyer who was formerly a part of defense team, Jonathon Moseley, and who is now disbarred. He is threatening or trying to release FBI 302s protected by a protective order. …
— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) October 6, 2022
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“These public tweets from journalists reporting on Mehta’s public warning are visible as an incredible event in the already farcical prosecution,” Moseley said.
Two FBI agents interviewed Dunn on May 18, 2021, about the incident in the Small House Rotunda. According to video footage from an independent journalist, and portions of the FBI summary of Dunn’s interview reviewed by The Epoch Times, a group of Oath Keepers came upon a volatile standoff in the Small House Rotunda at 2:48 p.m. on January 6.
Dunn and at least two very agitated protesters in the crowd were shouting at each other. Dunn has said he did not have his finger on the trigger of his rifle, according to his FBI interview. A bullet was in the chamber but the firearm’s safety was on, he said.
Rhodes told the FBI in an interview that same month that Dunn shouted at the crowd, “I’m going to take as many of you [expletives] with me if you come for my rifle,” according to an interview summary obtained by The Epoch Times.
The Oath Keepers “got in between that cop and the Trump supporters and calmed things down and de-escalated the situation,” Rhodes said. “And protected—and protected him.”
