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Days before the riot, prosecutors say, Mr Caldwell contacted a contact associated with another group, the Three Percenters, an extremist gun rights militia named after the alleged three percent of the American colonial population who fought the British Army. In a text message, Mr Caldwell suggested finding a boat that “could handle a passage through Potomac” and could carry a “rapid response team” with “heavy weapons” to militia members already on Capitol Hill.
Mr Caldwell asked a federal judge to release him from detention this week, saying he was an injured Navy veteran with over 30 years of experience in top-secret cases. He also noted that while he was on Capitol Hill on January 6, he was not one of the “pile” of oath guards in tactical military gear who had physically smashed the building.
In documents filed Thursday, prosecutors countered that it didn’t matter given that Mr. Caldwell was “a key figure who sparked the violence that engulfed the Capitol.” They noted that in his text messages he described the murder and mutilation of people who held views opposite to his and referred to political opponents as “socialists”, “savages”, “maggots” and “cockroaches” .
When federal agents searched Mr. Caldwell’s Virginia home last month, they discovered a document titled “Death List” that contained the name of an unidentified election official from another state, prosecutors said. Officers also found a gun “intentionally designed to look like a cell phone”, prosecutors said.
During a search of Ms Watkins’ home, court documents found, officers discovered numerous firearms, a paintball gun, pool cues cut to “stick size”, plastic ties. and a recipe for crafting “a destructive device”.
Prosecutors say Ms Watkins may have had the arsenal because she believed the prospect of Joseph R. Biden Jr. becoming president was “an existential threat.”
“Biden may still be our president,” she wrote in a text message on Nov. 17. “If it is, our way of life as we know it is over. Our Republic would be over. Then, it is our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights.
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