Panel to connect Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in Capitol attack conspiracy

Source: The Guardian

Panel to connect Proud Boys and Oath Keepers in Capitol attack conspiracy

Sources say investigators intend to show far-right militias coordinated in effort to storm US Capitol on January 6 last year

Hugo Lowell in Washington
Thu 9 Jun 2022 18.08 BST
Last modified on Thu 9 Jun 2022 19.40 BST

The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is expected at its first hearing on Thursday evening to connect the far-right Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia groups in the same seditious conspiracy, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The move by the panel and chief investigative counsel Tim Heaphy could be one of the major revelations that comes from the hearing, which is expected to focus on the militia groups and how they made plans to storm the Capitol, the sources said.

Top members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged separately by the justice department with seditious conspiracy, but the select committee’s intention to show that their efforts were connected would escalate the gravity of the plans to attack the Capitol.

The panel is understood to be able to connect the two groups in part as it got access to the Oath Keepers’ encrypted Signal messaging chats, while the first witness at the hearing, documentarian Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys, overheard their planning.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/09/proud-boys-oath-keepers-capitol-attack