(Photo
by
Win
McNamee/Getty
Images)
Yesterday
the
Justice
Department
indicted
eleven
members
of
the
far
right
Oath
Keepers
militia
for
participating
in
a
seditious
conspiracy
to
overthrow
the
government
on
January
6,
2021.
Their
lawyer
Jonathon
Moseley
is
currently
tweeting
that
“I
plan
on
drinking
champagne
on
Oath
Keepers
Kelly
Meggs’
new
yacht,
purchased
from
his
malicious
prosecution
lawsuit
against
a
dishonest
prosecution
over
January
6.”
Which
is
not
even
the
worst
error
in
judgment
from
the
Northern
Virginia
attorney
today.
Because
Moseley
started
his
morning
getting
spanked
by
CNN’s
Brianna
Keilar
in
this
extremely
ill-advised
interview.
Keilar
asked
how
Moseley
plans
to
defend
his
clients
against
conspiracy
charges
when
the
government
has
copious
evidence
that
they
planned
a
violent
attack,
including
a
stockpile
of
weapons
in
hotel
rooms
in
Arlington
and
Signal
messages
anticipating
a
“bloody
fight.”
“Tell
me
how
you
defend
against
this,”
the
host
asked.
“I
want
to
see
the
entire
documents,”
Moseley
insisted,
suggesting
that
there
was
some
missing
context
that
would
show
that
his
clients’
references
to
“unconventional
warfare”
and
a
“bloody,
massively
bloody
revolution”
were
simply
innocuous
chatter.
“It
was
about
their
somewhat
fanciful
idea
that
the
president
was
going
to
call
them
up
under
the
Insurrection
Act,
which
I
don’t
pretend
to
understand,”
Moseley
explained,
claiming
that
his
clients
were
simply
stockpiling
guns
in
anticipation
of
lawfully
overthrowing
the
federal
government
at
the
behest
of
a
defeated
president.
“They
were
quite
fixated
on
the
idea
that
Trump
was
going
to
activate
them
as
a
militia
under
the
Insurrection
Act.”
Moseley
failed
to
mention
that
Stewart
Rhodes,
King
of
the
Oafs,
messaged
the
“Hangout
Chat”
on
Christmas
2020
that
“We
need
to
make
those
senators
very
uncomfortable
with
all
of
us
being
a
few
hundred
feet
away,”
adding
“I
think
Congress
will
screw
him
[Trump]
over.
The
only
chance
we/he
has
is
if
we
scare
the
shit
out
of
them
and
convince
them
it
will
be
torches
and
pitchforks
time
is
[sic]
they
don’t
do
the
right
thing.”
Or
the
messages
to
the
“Leadership
Channel”
during
the
riot
that
said
“Pence
is
doing
nothing.
As
I
predicted.
..
All
I
see
Trump
doing
is
complaining.
I
see
no
intent
by
him
to
do
anything.
So
patriots
are
taking
it
into
their
own
hands.
They’ve
had
enough.”
Perhaps
there
is
context
missing,
like
a
follow
up
that
says,
“Dangit,
fellas,
looks
like
we
aren’t
going
to
get
that
Insurrection
Act
order
after
all.
Best
we
pack
up
these
guns
and
head
on
home
to
watch
“Love
Actually.’”
Moseley’s
line,
and
he’s
stickin’
to
it,
is
that
his
clients
“went
to
the
Capitol
to
provide
security
at
a
demonstration
that
turned
into
chaos,”
despite
the
fact
that
they
marched
into
the
chaos
in
“stack
formation,”
participated
in
breaking
down
the
doors
and
assaulting
police
officers,
summoned
more
militia
members
to
the
Capitol
mid-riot,
and
messaged
each
other
during
the
event
“this
is
what
we
fucking
trained
for.”
“I’m
not
saying
I
would
advise
them
to
do
any
of
the
things
they
did,”
Moseley
concedes,
before
insisting
that
“their
purpose
in
coming
to
DC
was
to
provide
security
for
legal,
permitted
demonstrations.”
According
to
Moseley,
his
clients
weren’t
doing
a
gun
training
in
preparation
to
take
over
the
government,
and
it
is
very
unfair
for
prosecutors
to
connect
those
two
events.
“The
indictment
says
practically
that
they
ate
a
hamburger
on
the
way
up
here
in
order
to
overthrow
the
government.
No,
they
ate
a
hamburger
because,
you
know,
I’m
speaking
hypothetically,”
he
said,
as
Keilar
took
a
big
sip
of
coffee
and
tried
not
to
giggle.
“They
keep
saying
that
everything
they
did
was
to
overthrow
the
government
and
the
prosecution
knows
that’s
false.”
He
went
on
to
call
the
indictment
“a
work
of
fiction,”
insisting
that
his
clients’
plans
for
“revolution”
were
not
a
conspiracy
but
were
in
fact
“reactive”
to
“what
they
believe
the
left
and
the
Deep
State
and
other
people
were
doing.”
Pressed
on
what
exactly
this
oppression
entailed,
Moseley
invoked
“everything
from
news
censorship
of
certain
items,
you
know
the
Hunter
thing,
and
everything
where
they
felt
the
election
was
being
manipulated
and
stolen.”
But
perhaps
we
should
cut
the
attorney
some
slack.
Moseley’s
website
describes
him
as
“Offering
22
years
experience
in
Virginia
general
practice
at
a
price
you
can
afford,”
and
lists
practice
areas
including
DWI,
suspended
license,
and
reckless
driving.
This
is
probably
Moseley’s
first
case
of
seditious
conspiracy
to
overthrow
the
government.
But,
as
his
page
notes,
“Legal
problems
rarely
get
better
while
ignoring
them.
One
should
see
a
lawyer
promptly
to
explore
legal
rights.”
He’ll
get
his
sedition
legs
under
him
in
no
time.
He’s
already
off
to
a
bang
up
start
with
US
District
Judge
Amit
Mehta,
who
was
really
impressed
with
Moseley’s
argument
that
DC
jails
asking
detainees
to
get
vaccinated
was
literally
just
like
the
Holocaust.
Here’s
the
minute
order
on
that
motion:
Whatever
motion
Defendants
intend
to
file,
the
court
will
stop
reading
it
after
page
45.
See
LCrR
47(e).
The
court
will
not
allow
this
case
to
become
a
forum
for
bombastic
arguments
(“SCOTUS
Could
Not
Have
Foreseen
the
Holocaust,”
see
ECF
No.
476-2,
at
1)
or
propagating
fringe
views
about
COVID-19
or
vaccinations
(“A
Human
Experiment
Unlike
Any
Other,”
“Pseudo-Science
Displaces
Science,”
“Mandatory
Everything,”
“C19
Conspiracy
Structure,”
see
ECF
No.
476-2,
at
2).
To
this
court’s
knowledge,
the
D.C.
Department
of
Corrections
does
not
require
any
person
held
there
to
accept
a
COVID-19
vaccine.
If
that
is
the
intended
basis
of
Defendants’
motion,
they
must
file
a
brief
of
no
more
than
five
pages
(excluding
exhibits)
establishing
such
a
mandatory
policy
before
the
court
will
accept
a
longer
filing.
Signed
by
Judge
Amit
P.
Mehta
on
11/01/2021.
Champagne
on
the
yacht,
you
bet.
Liz
Dye
lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics.