an AR-style rifle and firearms attachments.[195] Making one final shopping trip in Mississippi, Rhodes purchased $4,500 of firearms equipment including more sights, magazines, and weapons parts on January 4th.[196]
On the morning of January 6th, with weapons stockpiled, Rhodes messaged the Signal group of Oath Keepers leaders:
We have several well equipped [sic] QRFs outside DC. And there are many, many others, from other groups, who will be watching and waiting on the outside in case of worst case [sic] scenarios.[197]
6.5 “READY TO STEP IN AND DO WHAT IS NEEDED”
Stewart Rhodes's and Oath Keepers' lawyer Kellye SoRelle arrived in Washington on the afternoon of January 5th.[198] They immediately went to Freedom Plaza, where President Trump had instructed rally organizers to give some of his most extreme supporters time to speak.[199] As a small group of Oath Keepers patrolled Freedom Plaza, they were able to see the results of President Trump's call to mobilize.[200] SoRelle testified that there were Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and "Alex Jones people" mingling together in the crowd, with "just a small distinction between them."[201]
The Oath Keepers later found themselves at the Phoenix Park Hotel,[202] where they ate and drank with a motley coalition of far-right political activists who were united in their shared belief in President Trump's Big Lie.[203] Among them were: Proud Boys-linked Bianca Gracia of Latinos for Trump; Joshua Macias, leader of Vets for Trump;[204] and Amanda Chase, a Virginia State senator.[205] In a livestream discussion moderated by Chase, they promoted false election fraud claims. Macias and Rhodes encouraged President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up combat veterans who are "ready to step in and do what is needed."[206]
SoRelle later told the Select Committee that there was discussion of going to "storm the Capitol," although she claimed that this was "normal" discussion and supposedly did not indicate violence or "any of that type of stuff."[207]
That same evening, Gracia asked SoRelle and Rhodes to follow her to a garage where she was supposed to meet Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio,[208] who had just been released from custody and ordered to leave the DC area.[209] Instead of immediately leaving Washington, DC, Tarrio instead made his way to a garage near the hotel where the others gathered.[210] Portions of the ensuing meeting were captured on video by documentary filmmaker Nick Quested and his camera crew. SoRelle claims that she was asked to attend to discuss Tarrio's legal woes,[211] but there is evidence indicating that the conversation turned tactical.
