WASHINGTON—Former Oath Keepers’ members testified on Oct. 6 in federal court about their decision to leave the organization, allegedly because the group’s beliefs no longer aligned with theirs.
A Marine Corps veteran, Abdullah Rasheed, said he is a former West Virginia Oath Keepers leader. He used his second phone to record a post-election meeting in November 2020 with Stewart Rhodes and other Oath Keepers. Rasheed said that during the conference call, Rhodes and other members discussed their plan to overturn the election results.
“It sounded like we were going to war against the United States government,” said Rasheed. A few days later, he sent the video to the FBI.
Defense attorneys questioned if he truly was a member of the Oath Keepers since he only attended online meetings and calls, but never showed up in person.
Defense lawyer Jonathan Crisp suggested that the government may have told him to record the meeting. Rasheed denied the suggestion.
“Did you just happen to have an extra phone to record the meeting that day?” questioned counsel David Fischer. Rasheed responded yes.
Rasheed was the West Virginia leader only on the Signal group chat, said defense attorney Phillip Linder, pointing out that he wasn’t a real leader.
In exchange for the video he recorded, Rasheed asked the FBI if they could change his identity. The Marine Corps veteran, concerned for his family’s safety, said he was intimidated by the Oath Keepers’ harsh language.
Rasheed admitted in court that he had previously changed his name several times. In the past, he was charged with sexually abusing a child, said defense lawyer James Bright, which is against the requirements set forth by the Oath Keepers to gain membership in the organization. According to Rasheed, the crime has been expunged from his record.
Although his values aligned with the organization’s mission when he joined, testified Rasheed, “it got worse over time.” He also emailed the Capitol Police saying Kelly Meggs was a psycho.
Another former Oath Keeper member, Michael Adams, who served in the military, testified on Thursday afternoon. He was the Oath Keepers leader in Florida. Adams joined the organization around July 2020 because he saw the upsurge of Antifa and Black Lives Matter protests and was concerned about his community.
He said that after the results of the 2020 presidential election, he was troubled by Rhodes’s letter to former president Donald Trump asking him to invoke the Insurrection Act. If Trump didn’t do anything, as mentioned by Rhodes in the letter, the patriots would act. This pushed him to quit the organization, said Adams. He sent a text message to Rhodes, letting him know about his decision to leave.
Adams wrote a long message which included, “I’m a proud lifetime member and will be in the back.” He later admitted that he only stepped out of his leadership role in the Oath Keepers and didn’t leave it.
Adams said he didn’t participate in the Million Make America Great Again March in Nov. 2020, nor did he come to the January 6 rally. He didn’t notice anything illegal in preparation for the Jan. 6 protest. Otherwise, said Adams, he would have let the authorities know.
The trial is expected to end around November.
