In federal court on October 4th a recording was revealed showing the Oath Keepers leader discussing the events of the January 6th attack.

Federal prosecutors presented a secret audio recording of an Oath Keepers meeting in which leader Stewart Rhodes was heard saying that his “only regret” was that they “should’ve brought more rifles.”

During the opening statements in the Oath Keepers trial, Rhodes along with other members Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell. 

Other members that were not at the meeting will be put on trial in November for seditious conspiracy relating to the attacks.

The prosecutors allege that the Oath Keepers plotted ways to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to fight on behalf of former president Donald Trump. Prosecutors cited that peaceful transfers of power go back to George Washington and John Adams which the group attempted to “rewrite that history” by their attempt to keep Trump in power and the rarely prosecuted charge of seditious conspiracy .

The goal according to Assistant U.S Attorney Jeffery Nestler was to make sure

“Congress couldn’t meet so, it could not declare the winner of the election.”

The recording also shows that after the riot Rhodes attempted to make all other members “go dark on that” and to delete anything that could link them to the riot including comments, chats and posts about hurting anyone or doing anything illegal.

Philip Linder, one of Rhodes’ lawyers, accused the government of presenting only selective evidence of the group’s actions that day. On multiple occasions Linder had to be reined in by judges for commenting on things such as the amount of time the defendants could spend behind bars if they were to be convicted.

Linder also confirmed that Rhodes himself will testify during the trial

“The real evidence will show that our clients were there to do security for events that were scheduled for the 5th and 6th,” Linder said in court. “Stewart meant no harm to the Capitol that day” he said “Stewart did have any violent intent that day”

According to the Justice Department, the group was doing anything but assisting people during the events of Jan.6

Other Oath Keepers members that were put on trial will have their statements on Monday Afternoon. The trial is expected to be around 5 weeks long