‘I’m Gonna Go on a Killing Spree’: FBI Agent Reveals Oath Keepers’ Chilling Messages at Seditious Conspiracy Trial – By Marisa Sarnoff (Law and Crime) / Oct 4, 2022
An FBI agent who has been investigating the origins of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building was the first government witness to testify at the seditious conspiracy trial against members of the Oath Keepers extremist group. She authenticated chilling communications among group leaders contemplating ways to keep Donald Trump in power, starting from the early days following the 2020 presidential election.
In his testimony on Monday and Tuesday, agent Michael Palian fielded questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy, whose questions largely focused on records of group chats and text messages among Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others, including co-defendants Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell, in November 2020. They, along with co-defendant Kenneth Harrelson, are charged with seditious conspiracy and accused of plotting to use violence to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win on Jan. 6.
Palian, who was part of a detail that escorted senators back to the Capitol after they were forced to evacuate that day, said that he has been part of the government’s investigation into the siege, and prosecutors relied on his expertise to help bolster their theory that defendants had been looking for an opportunity to disrupt the transition of power since it first appeared that Biden would win the election, and that Jan. 6 gave them that opportunity.
