Sudden Oath Keeper Indictment And Guilty Plea Moves Investigation Closer To Trump
With other things going on it has not made much news, but there was a potentially stunning development in the January 6 investigation today. An Oath Keeper named William Todd Wilson was indicted on sedition charges today. That is not in itself surprising. About a dozen Oath Keepers have been indicted on sedition charges, to include Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers.
What is surprising is that on the same day Wilson also pled guilty with the standard full cooperation plea agreement included. That plea agreement is dated April 20th. This means Wilson has been cooperating with the investigation at least since then, probably well before that. It is likely his assistance was instrumental in securing the indictments of the other Oath Keepers charged with sedition.
Also released was the Statement of Offense for Wilson. While it expressly states that it is “not intended to constitute a complete statement of all facts known by Wilson or the government” it nonetheless provides a very interesting nugget not previously disclosed.
On the night of January 6th Wilson, Rhodes and other coconspirators met at the Phoenix Hotel where they had previously maintained a “Quick Reaction Force” with a massive weapons cache. Rhodes called an unknown person, who was obviously closely connected to Trump, and had access to Trump. Rhodes attempted to get this person to work with Trump to continue violent efforts to overturn the election. In the words of the Statement:
“At the Phoenix Hotel, Rhodes gathered Wilson and other co-conspirators inside of a private suite. Rhodes then called an individual over speaker phone. Wilson heard, Rhodes repeatedly implored the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power. This individual denied Rhode’s request to speak directly with President Trump. After the call ended, Rhodes stated to the group, ‘I just want to fight.’” ¶ 44.
Rhodes could obviously reach this person, suggesting prior contacts with him. We don’t know what this person said, it certainly doesn’t sound like he tried to call Rhodes off from further violence. Indeed after the call Rhodes signaled his troops that “you ain’t seen nothing yet” and “Patriots entering their own Capitol to send a message to the traitors is NOTHING compared to what’s coming.”
It also certainly sounds like Rhodes believed he had a chance to talk to Trump, suggesting he might have before.
I can state this with confidence. While we don’t know who that person is we can assume Wilson does and so does the FBI now. We can also be sure that person knows who he (or she) is and that person knows they are being talked about in that paragraph. For whatever reason the FBI felt it could tip off that person without compromising the investigation.
I’m just speculating, but one real possibility is that person is already cooperating with the FBI, and like Wilson, has been for awhile.
