Day Eight of the Oath Keeper Sedition Trial: Some bells can't be unrung

For the Oath Keepers now on trial for charges of seditious conspiracy, some of the largest hurdles defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins must clear are those the Justice Department has erected through a staggering number of evidentiary text messages, emails, social media posts, group chats, handwritten notes, speeches, or podcast appearances that flowed throughout the extremist network for weeks ahead of, on, and after Jan. 6, 2021. 

Friday marked the eighth day of proceedings at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., and for most of this time, prosecutors have laid out their case by letting the Oath Keepers' communications speak for themselves. 

In fact, as defense attorneys argued to keep yet more evidence away from jurors on Friday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta offered a blunt assessment that neatly summed up the first two weeks of what is expected to be a six- or even seven-week trial.

Upon reviewing a series of social media posts and other messages shared among Oath Keepers as they allegedly conspired to forcibly stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election, Judge Mehta said: "I would love to tell your clients not to put down what they've put down. But at the end of the day, we can't unring that bell … These statements go toward their state of mind.”

Whether certain comments were “rhetorical or not,” he added, is what the jury must decide.