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However he additionally acknowledged he was not all the time truthful with investigators, as protection attorneys sought to focus on inconsistencies in his testimony. These on trial have argued that there was no plan or conspiracy, solely a spontaneous choice to comply with the group into the constructing, and that an armed “Fast Response Pressure” stationed in Virginia was simply an aged asthmatic who spent hours on Jan. 6 trying to find his automotive.
Berry stated that he joined the Oath Keepers group from Tampa in November 2020, pledging that he “was able to die” to “defend the Structure.”
However after the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, which left scores of officers wounded and 5 individuals useless within the aftermath, Berry stated he “knew that I had made an enormous mistake.”
As an alternative of a patriotic victory, he testified, “it was a traumatizing occasion.”
Berry stated he was persuaded to hitch the journey that put the Oath Keepers in D.C. on Jan. 6 by Kelly Meggs, the pinnacle of the Florida Oath Keepers. After a trial final yr, Meggs and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes have been convicted of seditious conspiracy in November; associates, together with one other Florida Oath Keeper named Kenneth Harrelson, have been acquitted of that cost however discovered responsible of different felonies associated to the riot.
Now 4 extra are on trial, accused of opposing the U.S. authorities by drive: Joseph B. Hackett, 52; Roberto Minuta, 37; David Moerschel, 44; and Edward Vallejo, 64.
Berry, a line cook dinner, testified he had joined the far-right group weeks earlier as a result of he was “sick of hiding my opinions,” significantly from his girlfriend. She opposed Trump and the Oath Keepers and had already persuaded him to not be part of the army, he stated. In a message, Meggs known as Berry “a bada--.”
Berry testified that he and Meggs drove with different members from Florida to D.C., stashing weapons at a resort in Ballston, Va. They supplied safety for audio system at President Donald Trump’s speech and their households, then adopted these “VIPs” to the Capitol, he stated.
On the best way, they realized the Capitol had been breached. On the east aspect of the constructing, Berry testified, Meggs led a huddle of Oath Keepers and informed them that the election had been “illegitimate and unconstitutional” and that “we have been going to attempt to cease the vote depend.” They then organized right into a military-style “stack,” he stated, and headed up the steps into the constructing “like a battering ram.”
Different rioters adopted the Oath Keepers’ lead as a result of “we had armor, we had army members, we have been skilled,” Berry testified.
Within the earlier trial, prosecutors highlighted a three-minute telephone name between Meggs and Rhodes simply earlier than the stack ascended the steps. Rhodes denied issuing any order to Meggs, saying he couldn’t hear him on the decision.
Berry described friction between Rhodes and Meggs — a dynamic that Oath Keepers lawyer Kellye SoRelle additionally relayed to the Home committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault. SoRelle, now accused of conspiracy and different expenses, informed lawmakers in April that the Florida Oath Keepers “went rogue” by working with the Proud Boys. Berry testified that the sensation was mutual; Meggs informed him that “Stewart Rhodes was in it for himself” and that Florida Oath Keepers ought to “persist with ourselves.”
Berry didn't testify towards Rhodes, Meggs or Harrelson on the earlier trial, though a prosecutor stated in courtroom Wednesday that Berry went by means of two rounds of preparation to take action. The Justice Division has a roster of greater than a dozen cooperating Oath Keepers to drag from, permitting them to place witnesses on the stand who haven't but been topic to cross-examination.
The 2 cooperators who did testify on the earlier trial stated there was no express plan to enter the Capitol, solely an unstated settlement that doing so would additional the group’s aim of preserving Trump in workplace.
Berry was key to implicating Hackett, who prosecutors say organized Sarasota members and introduced weapons to D.C. Berry testified that he and Hackett dropped long-gun circumstances and ammunition off in Ballston on Jan. 5 for the “Fast Response Pressure” and that Hackett was within the huddle with Meggs earlier than they entered the Capitol. Berry additionally stated that he and Hackett mentioned deleting proof on the best way again to Florida.
However underneath cross-examination by Hackett’s lawyer, Angie Halim, Berry admitted previous dishonesty and ongoing confusion about what occurred on Jan. 6.
Berry had described the Oath Keepers as breaking open the East Rotunda doorways from the surface, pushing them in; the doorways really open outward, from the within. Earlier than his first assembly with the FBI, Berry had written an 11-page account of Jan. 6 that didn't embody Meggs’s directive about stopping the vote depend, and in earlier interviews with investigators he stated he couldn’t bear in mind who voiced it. He had additionally informed the FBI he determined alone to wipe his telephone and did so secretly.
“I used to be attempting to downplay and reduce,” Berry testified.
He claimed he was instantly ashamed of his participation within the Capitol assault. However in a message to different Florida Oath Keepers on Jan. 11, Berry struck a defiant tone.
“For these of us nonetheless inquisitive about persevering with, this combat just isn't over,” he wrote. “We should be aggressively free or we received’t be free in any respect.” Berry claimed that message was about forming a brand new group, separate from the Oath Keepers.
He stated he was nonetheless together with his “liberal” girlfriend.
“Has she stated ‘I informed you so?’” requested Scott Weinberg, Moerschel’s lawyer.
Berry, who faces a tenet sentence of roughly 5 years in jail, smiled.
“Loads of instances,” he stated.
Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.
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