A Donald Trump supporter who teamed up with members of the Oath Keepers to storm the U.S. Capitol constructing has testified earlier than a grand jury and reached a plea take care of federal prosecutors during which he admits he entered right into a conspiracy to hinder the Jan. 6 certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral Faculty win.
Mark Grods, based on a felony info filed forward of his plea settlement listening to on Wednesday afternoon, will admit he was a part of a army “stack” formation and entered the Capitol constructing carrying a big stick on Jan. 6. Grods will admit that he introduced firearms to Washington, D.C., and “ultimately offered them to a different particular person to retailer in a Virginia lodge.” (Trump supporters needed to carry weapons to the Capitol on Jan. 6, however have been anxious they’d be stopped by legislation enforcement earlier than they reached the Capitol underneath D.C. gun legal guidelines.)
Grods stayed within the Mayflower Lodge, based on the felony info, and entered the Capitol constructing by the japanese doorways to the rotunda “minutes after” others Grods traveled with “entered the identical doorways and assaulted legislation enforcement officers within the Rotunda.” He entered the constructing “with a big stick,” the settlement mentioned.
The 2-count felony info, which costs Grods with the conspiracy to hinder an official continuing in addition to aiding and abetting, features a cooperation element.
In a separate submitting, the federal government famous that Grods’ plea deal “is a part of an ongoing grand jury investigation and plea negotiation associated to United States v. Thomas Caldwell, et al.,” ― the big Oath Keepers conspiracy case involving greater than a dozen defendants ― and that his plea deal features a cooperation element.
“Delaying the federal government’s have to notify different defendants about Mark Grod’s associated case between the submitting of the felony Info on June 28 and his public plea listening to on June 30, 2021, will make sure the defendant’s security whereas he cooperates pursuant to his plea settlement and testifies earlier than the grand jury,” the federal government wrote.
It is a growing story. Please test again for updates.
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