The trial of right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers went straight into the toilet during the first day of arguments.
An attorney for one of the five defendants charged with seditious conspiracy for their roles at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot said in court Monday that his client’s trip to downtown Washington one day before the violent event was not an illicit reconnaissance mission aimed at preparing to thwart the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
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It was just an attempt to make sure the area had enough toilets so that his client, Thomas Caldwell, 68, could find one during a big political gathering, the lawyer said.
“He’s an elderly veteran,” Caldwell’s lawyer, David Fischer, told the jury during opening arguments on Monday. “They were concerned about the port-a-potties.”
The Department of Justice has charged Caldwell and four members of the Oath Keepers of plotting to use violence on Jan. 6 to keep former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. All five, including the group’s leader Stewart Rhodes, have pleaded not guilty in a trial that kicked off Monday and may last six weeks. If convicted, they could spend up to 20 years each in prison.
Prosecutors accuse Caldwell, a Navy veteran, of coordinating teams prepared to transport weapons by boat across the Potomac River to D.C. from a hotel room in Virginia.
Prosecutors describe Caldwell as an associate of the Oath Keepers and not a dues-paying member.
The group had stashed guns before Jan. 6 as part of what they called a “Quick Reaction Force,” or QRF, although the exact intended purpose of the weapons remains under dispute in the trial.
Prosecutors allege the guns were part of the conspiracy to use force to stop President Joe Biden from taking office by disrupting the Congressional certification of Biden’s victory. But an attorney for Rhodes has said the group was focused primarily on acting as a private security force for VIPs at the rally, and were prepared to take action if Trump called on them to intervene, which never happened.
“On January 5, 2021, Caldwell and others drove into Washington, D.C., around
the Capitol, and back to their hotel in Virginia,” prosecutors wrote in an indictment. “Caldwell described the trip as a ’recce,’ or a reconnaissance mission.”
On Monday, Caldwell’s attorney acknowledged that he referred to the expedition as a “pre-strike recce.”
But the lawyer insisted it was not about preparing for violence and noted that the message ended with how the area appeared to be well-stocked with toilets.
“Just got back from recce. Lots of fresh port-a-potties,” Caldwell wrote, according to Fischer.
“Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the ‘pre-strike recce’ was a group of older Americans who were concerned … they had no place to use the toilet,” Fischer said.
Fischer also raised another innocuous explanation for a message posted to social media by Caldwell.
After the riot, Caldwell posted a message that said: “Us storming the castle. Please share…. I am such an instigator!”
Fischer claimed that Caldwell was just quoting the movie, The Princess Bride.
