Oath Keeper's effort to get Jan. 6 conviction tossed rejected by judge

A federal judge rejected a request by an Oath Keepers member to throw out an obstruction conviction related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Thomas Caldwell, who had been one of the first members of the right-wing militia charged in connection with the riot, did not go inside the U.S. Capitol and was acquitted of seditious conspiracy and obstruction conspiracy charges, and his attorneys questioned whether there had been sufficient evidence to support his conviction, reported Politico's Kyle Cheney.

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District Court judge Amit Mehta postponed Caldwell's sentencing in July, but he shot down his motion to dismiss and upheld his conviction for tampering with evidence Tuesday.

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The 68-year-old U.S. Navy veteran told jurors last year at his trial that he was being “a little bit of a goof" when he made derogatory comments about then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi and claimed he knew where then-vice president Mike Pence lived as Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

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Caldwell also sent messages to friends in late 2020 saying that he hoped Trump would “start rounding up and executing traitors,” but he insisted at his trial that he didn't mean that and claimed his violent postings came from a screenplay he was writing of were references to the video game “Call of Duty.”