The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-08)

SUNDAY, MAY 8 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE C5

BY SPENCER S. HSU

The lead trial of Oath Keepers
founder Stewart Rhodes and four
co-defendants charged with sedi-
tious conspiracy in the Jan. 6,
2021, Capitol attack will be de-
layed until late September after a
defense expert reported finding
evidence of more communica-
tions on Rhodes’s phone with
accused co-conspirators than
those turned over by federal pros-
ecutors.
U.S. District Judge Amit P.
Mehta in Washington postponed
a July 11 trial date to Sept. 19 or
Sept. 26 after defendants said
they needed more time to review
what they said could be critical
texts and encrypted messages in-
volving the most high-profile per-
son charged in the wide-ranging
Jan. 6 investigation.
Mehta acted after extracting a
promise that co-defendants
would not seek any further delays
barring extraordinary circum-
stances in the case, in which
prosecutors have leveled the his-
torically rare charge of seditious
conspiracy against members of
the extremist Oath Keepers group
and accused Rhodes of guiding a
months-long effort to unleash po-
litically motivated violence to
prevent the swearing-in of Presi-
dent Biden.
“Do I have a commitment from
each of you if I move the July trial

date, I won’t get another request to continue trial in September absent something completely un- foreseen at this point?” Mehta asked, drawing unanimous assur- ances. The delay is the latest in the case, which was originally set for trial in April and is expected to last about one month, with testi- mony by one or more defendants. Rhodes was added to the case in January when he and 10 co-defendants were charged in an indictment that stated that he and co-conspirators “planned to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power by January 20, 2021, which included multiple ways to deploy force.” Charging papers allege that the group coordinated travel, equipment and firearms and stashed weapons outside Wash- ington. They “were prepared to answer Rhodes’ call to take up arms at Rhodes’ direction,” the papers say. Two of the original group who were indicted have since pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in ex- change for leniency at sentencing — Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Ala., and Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Ga. A third longtime Oath Keep- ers member and North Carolina chapter leader, William Todd Wil- son, 44, did the same in a stand- alone case Wednesday. Rhodes has denied wrongdo-

ing, including in an interview with The Washington Post in March 2021, saying there was no plan to breach the Capitol. He has said the group staged firearms in Northern Virginia in case it was needed as a “quick reaction force” if President Donald Trump in- voked the Insurrection Act and mobilized to keep himself in office. All those facing trial have pleaded not guilty, including three defendants jailed since their arrest who are set to face a

federal jury in Washington with Rhodes — Kelly Meggs and Ken- neth Harrelson of Florida, and Jessica Watkins of Ohio — along with Thomas Caldwell of Vir- ginia. Five other defendants who had been slated for a second trial in September were pushed back to trial starting Nov. 29. An attorney for David Moer- schel, an accused Oath Keepers member from Florida, renewed a push for a postponement in a court filing Wednesday, saying he believed with Harrelson and Wat-

kins that they could not receive a fair trial in July given how much new evidence they had to review. Defense attorney Scott Wein- berg said that when prosecutors in October turned over 14 chats from Rhodes’s phone, including 40,000 texts in the encrypted Signal app, it was only a limited- in-scope subset of 15 to 25 percent of all such texts in a full raw download of Rhodes’s phone. Defense attorneys said they could not say how many of the messages were sent or received by co-defendants or their relevance, but agreed such messages are key to proving or disproving the exis- tence of a conspiracy in the case. “The defense must be afforded adequate time to examine the full, raw download of Mr. Rhodes’s phone in order to be prepared for trial,” Weinberg wrote. U.S. prosecutors said the government has turned over ma- terial relevant the investigation. The most damaging evidence lodged by the U.S. government in the 48-page 17-count indictment comes from the defendants’ own words, often shared via Signal. The indictment alleges that a core group of Rhodes’s most strident adherents planned for and partic- ipated in obstructing Congress on the day lawmakers certified Biden’s 2020 election victory. The attack on the Capitol came after a rally outside the White

House, at which Trump urged his supporters to march to Congress. The rioters injured scores of po- lice officers and ransacked Capi- tol offices, halting the proceed- ings as lawmakers were evacuat- ed from the House floor. The government has charged more than two dozen alleged as- sociates of the extremist anti-government group on counts including conspiracy and aiding and abetting the obstruction of Con- gress, felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Plea papers show defendants admitting to allegations that they were among a group that forced entry through the Rotunda doors after marching single file in a stack up the steps wearing cam- ouflage vests, helmets, goggles and Oath Keepers insignia. They acknowledged some brought ri- fles to Washington that were stashed beforehand at a Ballston hotel and one in Vienna. In court filings, prosecutors alleged that the Oath Keepers group came to Washington at the urging of Rhodes and asserted that he began discussing plans to keep Trump in the White House by force as early as Nov. 9. Pros- ecutors allege that he exchanged dozens of encrypted messages, phone calls and other communi- cations with members of the group stacked on the steps before and during the riot.

THE DISTRICT

Seditious conspiracy trial for Oath Keepers is delayed until September

MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS Members of the Oath Keepers on Jan. 6, 2021. The delayed trial was originally set for April and is expected to last about one month.

gation into the school’s past. “This is long past due that William & Mary recognize the people who literally built the earlier campus and maintained it, and were never compensated for it,” Allen said. With the memorial, “they can’t ever be hidden back in the archives anymore.” The memorial will feature 94 names of people enslaved at the university. “We still don’t know a lot about the individuals,” Allen said. She calls the remaining 105 people “citings in the record” because they are referred to only by details such as occupation or gender. Although the memorial was dedicated this weekend, it is far from complete, Thomas said. Re- searchers hope to add more names to the structure as they continue to learn more about the people it aims to memorialize. “If we withhold the truth and we choose not to acknowledge them, I just don’t think we’re living up to our mission,” John- son said. “This will be a constant reminder for us to push harder for the democracy that we hope to have.”

versities as participants in the institution of slavery is growing. Officials, as well as faculty and students, are trying to navigate a path forward. On campuses including Wil- liam & Mary and George Mason University, memorials have been erected. Harvard University — after divulging last month that former leaders, faculty and staff enslaved 79 people — pledged $100 million to redress the i njustices. At Georgetown University, officials have pledged to support the descendants of 272 enslaved people who were sold in the 19th century to help the school pay off its debts. It’s a movement that likely started at Brown University, Al- len said, when its former president commissioned a group to explore the school’s history. “As the word started getting out, people started wondering,” Allen said. In 2006, Brown re- leased a report that detailed its relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Soon after, William & Mary students and faculty called for an investi-

Dozens of schools have devot- ed resources in recent years to investigating their relationships with slavery. Universities Study- ing Slavery, a consortium of schools led by the University of Virginia, has nearly 100 m embers. This body of research that implicates dozens of the country’s oldest and wealthiest uni-

an assistant professor of history. In its charter, William & Mary was to receive a penny per every pound of tobacco collected in Maryland and Virginia, Thomas said. “William & Mary profited from the labor of enslaved people all the way through the Civil War,” she added. “You can’t have William & Mary without enslaved people.”

tion uncovered about London. William & Mary, after its founding in 1693, relied heavily on slave labor, said Sarah E. Thomas, the Lemon Project’s as- sociate director. The project was named for a man the school once enslaved. Some of the people enslaved at the school worked on campus. Others lived and worked at Nottoway Quarter, the school’s tobacco plantation. “William & Mary has owned slaves for more years than it hasn’t,” Thomas said. “I think that we view the Lemon Project and our work as a reparative effort, and one that is one step of many efforts that William & Mary needs to do to move forward.” Enslaved people built the Wren Building, the oldest college building on any U.S. campus, according to William & Mary. They were assigned a host of responsibilities, including deliv- ering fresh water to students’ rooms, emptying bedchamber pots, cleaning stables, cooking meals and running errands, according to Jody Lynn Allen, director of the Lemon Project and

dents and the college itself —
were memorialized in a monu-
ment unveiled Saturday after-
noon.
In a ceremony at the Williams-
burg campus, President Kather-
ine A. Rowe said that acknowl-
edging the painful truth of the
school’s 329-year history creates
an opportunity for unity.
“We have much work still to do
at William & Mary,” Rowe said.
“Yet by naming plainly the dehu-
manization of those enslaved
here, and their agency as human
beings, this memorial begins to
fulfill our collective responsibili-
ty.”
London is among those named
on the memorial. Researchers
don’t know how old he was when
he arrived at William & Mary or
whether he had children of his
own, but Johnson said he may
have been enslaved by Carter
Braxton until he was sold in 1784.
“Throughout the process of
searching, there are these glim-
mers of hope that keep you moti-
vated and keep you pushing,”
Johnson said about the informa-

MEMORIAL FROM C1

In dedication ceremony, William & Mary acknowledges its painful past

BASKERVILL William & Mary’s monument to enslaved people was dedicated Saturday in Williamsburg. It is seen in a rendering above.

BY LAURA VOZZELLA

An unprecedented preview of
the Supreme Court’s thinking on
abortion rights has people all
over the country wondering:
What will happen in my state if
Roe v. Wade is overturned?
In Virginia, current state law,
which allows abortion, would
remain in effect. But in a purple
state whose abortion politics
have zigged and zagged for a
decade, the longer-term fallout is
uncertain.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who
opposes abortion, suggested af-
ter the leak of a draft high court
opinion that he supports over-
turning Roe, but he has been coy
about how he might respond.
Having made large gains in No-
vember, Republicans now control
the state’s House of Delegates,
while Democrats hold the Senate.
But the political margins that
could decide abortion rights for
Virginians are slim.

What is current Virginia law
on abortion?

Abortion is lawful in the state
during the first and second tri-
mesters of a pregnancy. The pro-

cedure is allowed in the third trimester only if life or health is at serious risk, as certified by three doctors. Parental consent is required for minors seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Public funding of abortions, through Medicaid, is allowed only in cases of rape or incest, if the woman’s life or health is at risk, or if the fetus has “incapaci- tating” physical or mental defi- ciencies.

Where do Virginia voters stand on abortion? Forty-six percent of Virginia’s registered voters said they would like to see the state’s abortion laws remain where they are, according to a poll conducted in October by The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Gov- ernment. Twenty-five percent said they would like to see abortion laws made less strict, 21 percent would like them to be more strict and 8 percent had no opinion. At that time, with the race for governor looming, 9 percent of likely voters said abortion was their most important issue, con- siderably behind education (24 percent) and the economy (23 percent).

Is there support in Richmond for changing abortion laws? Maybe. Virginia’s perennial tug of war over abortion current-

ly stands at a fragile stalemate, with Youngkin and the Republi- can-led House in favor of more restrictions and the Democratic- controlled Senate opposed. On a secret recording made during the campaign, Youngkin said he had to downplay his antiabortion agenda to win inde- pendent voters but promised to go “on offense” once in office. So far he has made only symbolic gestures, such as declaring that the state diversity officer will be an “ambassador for unborn children.” “I think I’ve been clear — I’m pro-life, and I’ve made that very clear from the moment I an-

nounced my candidacy,” Young- kin said after the draft opinion leaked. But he demurred on what specific actions his administra- tion might take. Senate Democrats are in a precarious position, given both their 21-19 majority and a wild card in their caucus: Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (Richmond), who describes himself as “pro-life” and has said he might be open to some restrictions. Morrissey recently ducked off the Senate floor rather than break with his party on an abortion vote, allowing Democrats to prevail 20 to 19. If he were to vote with Republicans on abortion

legislation, that would leave Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), a staunch abortion opponent, to break a 20-20 tie.

Have Virginia abortion laws changed in recent years? Virginia governors and legisla- tors have not hesitated to upend abortion laws when they’ve had the chance — which has been often, as the state’s politics have lurched over the past decade from solidly red to purple to deep blue and, now, back to purple again. Under Republican governor Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, who served from 2010 to 2014, Vir- ginia imposed expensive building standards on abortion clinics and mandated that people seeking an abortion first have an abdominal ultrasound and then wait 24 hours before the pro- cedure. The Republican-controlled legislature prevented McDon- nell’s successor, Terry McAuliffe (D), from repealing any of those laws. But under McAuliffe, the Virginia Board of Health used its regulatory power to undermine the building standards, grandfa- thering in existing clinics. Then, shortly after a 2016 Supreme Court ruling struck down abortion-clinic regulations in Texas, the board freed new clinics from the standards, too. A host of remaining abortion restrictions — including the

state-mandated ultrasound and waiting period — were swept away in 2020 under Gov. Ralph Northam (D), in conjunction with a Democratic-controlled House and Senate.

What’s the likely political fallout in Virginia if Roe falls? Democrats got a lot of political mileage out of a GOP bill that, as originally proposed in 2012, would have required most people seeking an abortion to undergo a vaginal ultrasound first. For years, the episode helped them win elections on the claim that Republicans were waging a “war on women.” But abortion is also a highly animating force for conservative Republicans, who turned out in record numbers in November to put Youngkin over the top. All 140 General Assembly seats are on the ballot next year, and Young- kin would have the power to make big changes to abortion law if Republicans were to hang on to their House majority and win control of the Senate. But overturning Roe could also energize Democrats and inde- pendents in 2023 — and perhaps help them hang on to the Senate and flip the House. That would result in a continued stalemate under Youngkin, unless Demo- crats could muster supermajori- ties to override the governor’s vetoes.

VIRGINIA

What happens to abortion rights in Virginia if Roe v. Wade is overturned?

STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS Protesters attend a rally Tuesday in Richmond. A leaked draft opinion suggests the 1973 abortion rights decision could be in peril.

Current law would allow procedures to continue, but political sands shift

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The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-08)

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