Kelly Meggs, former leader of Oath Keepers’ Florida contingent, was just sentenced to 12 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and his role in the January 6 Capitol attack.
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Who is Kelly Meggs?
Meggs was the Florida chapter leader of the alt-right and anti-government Oath Keepers organisation.
The development came hours after Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison. District Court Judge Amit Mehta at the beginning of the hearing asserted that Meggs had not been coordinating with other Oath Keepers.
In the investigation, the probing agencies scrutinized the messages from the Meggs, as one message from Meggs indicated that he and others assumed President Donald Trump was attempting to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to remain in office.
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Meggs in the message on December 26 said, “Trump’s staying in, he’s gonna use the emergency broadcast system on cell phones to broadcast to the American people. Then he will claim the insurrection act”.
The person replied, “Any idea when?”
Meggs said, “Then wait for the 6th when we are all in dc to insurrection”.
Meggs stated that he had resigned from the Oath Keepers and informed Rhodes that he did not want to participate in the Jan. 6 event, but he remained on the calls and contacts.
One message from the Meggs said, “Easy to chat here, the real question is who is ready to die?” and “Scare the hell out of them…” Another suggested flying Oath Keeper flags over Washington. Another said: “There’ll be blood in streets no matter what”.
After such revelations, District Court Judge Amit Mehta affirmed Meggs was held responsible for the destruction of property in the Capitol Riot on January 6. He also stated, “It is because of Mr. Rhodes that Mr. Meggs is, in part, sitting here today”, “I’m not suggesting I’m absolving him of responsibility or he didn’t act of his own free will. But Rhodes’ influence on Meggs and dozens of other people who came to Washington that day.”