18 May 29 , 2022
really think a federal judge would let me out of jail if I intended
to kill elected officials?”
After his arrest, Tom says he spent 49 days in solitary
confinement. Two months after, in March 2021 he was released
on house arrest in light of his health, as well as for what U.S.
District Judge Amit Mehta said was insufficient evidence of
concrete plans to enter the Capitol. Just before Christmas, Mehta
further loosened the restrictions, setting a curfew but allowing
Tom to resume his normal daily life within the perimeter of
Clarke and neighboring Frederick County.
The government has not brought charges against Sharon,
who told Tucker Carlson that they had gone into D.C. as a “fun
couples outing.” She consistently appears alongside Tom in his
ongoing media appearances, and in a fundraising post Sharon
wrote after Tom’s arrest, she attempted to reclaim the narrative,
stating that on Jan. 6 they got “swept up in the crowd, went up
one set of stairs — never went inside the Capitol — hung out on
the first terrace for a bit ... and hobbled back to our car.”
Meanwhile on Fox News, Tom reiterated that he was not a
member of the Oath Keepers, as initially accused by the
government, but called the Oath Keepers “very nice people.”
To date, three members of the Oath Keepers have pleaded
guilty to sedition.A
s investigations into Jan. 6 drag on, many of us are still
searching for answers. In order to heal, we would like to
pinpoint the exact cause, the moment or person that led to the
near-collapse of our democracy. What I found back home was the
intersection of the threads of so many conversations that have
captivated the country: increased polarization, racism, gun
ownership becoming an identity, a perceived split between ruralonline a double-barrel pistol designed to fold up into a
cellphone, according to emails cited by the prosecution.
Defense papers filed by Fischer state that the gun’s purpose is to
“protect law enforcement by preventing unnecessary 911 calls
by citizens unaccustomed to conceal-carry by nonpolice.” He
also says that “the whole discussion about a ‘Quick Reaction
Force’ boils down to a bunch of ex-military guys trying to
out-plan one another.” And in his recent podcast interview Tom
said he did not coordinate the force because, “I’m not tactical, I
don’t understand this stuff.”
Watkins reached back out to Tom after Christmas to ask if
the “rally point” was still at his place. “Not that I am aware,”
Tom responded. “Have been contacted by NO ONE.” In another
message later that same day, he writes about a person who is
“committed to being the quick reaction force anf [sic] bringing
the tools if something goes to hell. That way the boys don’t have
to try to schlep weps on the bus.”
According to the government, Tom picked the hotel, the
Comfort Inn in Arlington’s Ballston neighborhood, that
Watkins as well as several other alleged co-conspirators stayed
in. Around Jan. 1, Tom texted Crowl, “This is a good location
and would allow us to hunt at night if we wanted to. I don’t
know if [Rhodes] has even gotten out his call to arms but it’s a
little friggin late. This is one we are doing on our own. We will
link up with the north carolina crew.”
Tom’s messages are peppered with references to not only the
quick-reaction force but also various extremist groups. On Jan.
3, Tom wrote to someone affiliated with another group that
they could “More or less be hanging around sipping coffee and
maybe scooting on the river a bit and pretending to fish, then if
it all went to [s---], our guy loads our weps AND Blue Ridge
Militia weps and ferries them across.” On Jan. 4, Tom sent an
email with the subject line “NEW MAPS RELATIVE TO
HOTEL AND INGRESS FOR QRF [quick reaction force].”
When the Caldwells arrived at the Comfort Inn, according to
the government, Tom brought with him a .22-caliber rifle
concealed under a sheet; attorney Fischer says it was originally
Tom’s father’s and lacked ammunition. The cellphone pistol
had not arrived, its shipping delayed by the pandemic.
On Jan. 6, after the Caldwells reached the Capitol, the
indictment asserts that at 2:45 p.m. Tom pushed past
barricades and climbed the stairs to a balcony in the “restricted
area” on the west side of the building. (Fischer denies that it was
off limits.) At 2:48 p.m., Caldwell sent a Facebook message,
“We are surging forward. Doors breached,” although it seems he
did not actually surge forward. “This post was me narrating for
far away friends what was happening at the Capitol,” Tom
wrote in his emailed statement.
Watkins and the others who marched up the Capitol steps
became part of the mob that violently shoved their way inside
the building, sending members of Congress, their staffs and
Vice President Mike Pence into hiding. At least 139 police
officers were brutally assaulted; one member of the Capitol
Police and four people in the crowd died. Many members of
Congress, police and others who were there that day also
thought that they might die.
When the FBI searched the Caldwells’ home on the day of
Tom’s arrest, they found a handwritten note labeled “death list”
with the name of an elected official from another state. I
requested a copy of the list from the prosecution, but they
declined to comment. I asked Tom what explained the contents
of the note. His response, via the emailed statement: “Do you