Very interesting development in the ongoing Oath Keeper sedition conspiracy criminal trial.
Defendant Thomas Caldwell called fellow Oath Keeper John Roeper to testify.
Roeper is a former FBI special agent.
The Oath Keepers is an anti-government extremist group.
The Feds are their enemies.
While there were likely some federal agents who had infiltrated the group as part of undercover operations, this wasn't that.
On the contrary, Roeper's leadership role at the Oath Keepers would have made such undercover investigations much more difficult.
According to his LinkedIn page, Roeper was with the FBI for 27 years, ending in August 2014, four months after the Oath Keepers aimed guns against federal agents at the Bundy Ranch standoff in Bunkerville, NV.
He claims he joined the OKs in 2020 after seeing the riots in Portland and Seattle.
While these events didn't generate much in terms in non-local news coverage, they were one hell of a recruiting tool for groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Because the mainstream media didn't cover these events fully, right-wing extremist influencers were able to control much of the online narrative. https://www.yahoo.com/video/rioters-set-fire-federal-courthouse-162333860.html
Roeper hadn't attended the Million Maga March in DC on November 15, 2020 but other NC Oath Keepers did and based on what they saw there, the NC Oath Keepers decided to splinter off from the national OK group.
My aside: This splintering happened quite bit from 2014 on. The group was too big and unruly, and the leader/founder was a narcissistic blowhard who loved giving out orders from the comfort of his couch/bunker/computer screen while constantly hitting up OK member for donations.
On J6, former Fed Roeper was the on the ground security for the bus that was set up to bring the guys with the guns (the NC Quick Reaction Force) to the Capitol in the event they needed them.
When Roeper left the bus in the early afternoon (2:15ish,) he didn't enter the Capitol and claims he didn't know what had happened inside until he had wifi back in the bus at 4 pm.
Roeper was armed that day. As a retired fed, he was LEOSA certified so he was legally permitted to carry in DC.
My aside: methinks there should be a requirement that such certification turns off if you join an extremist group.
Just sayin'.
On cross examination, it was brought up that Roeper was suspended from the FBI in 1995 for "misuse of position and unprofessional conduct."
Oops.
That's some imaginative excuse right there 😂😂
His cross-examination responses ranged from defensive to absurd.
He admitted that when he was outside the Capitol, he saw climbing the scaffolding, but when the police used flashbangs, he says he thought that was celebratory cannon fire, not police trying to push back a riot.
My aside: Idiot.