The House committee probing the events culminating in the January 6th Capitol attack believe the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, two far-right extremist groups, coordinated an assault designed to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to The Guardian.
The outlet reports:
The panel has amassed deep evidence about the connections between…the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys in recent weeks after it obtained hours of non-public footage of the leaders of the militia groups in Washington ahead of the Capitol attack, the sources said.
And the select committee has also now heard testimony from award-winning documentary film-maker Nick Quested on Wednesday about contacts between the militia group leaders, far-right political operatives and the Save America rally organizers, the sources said.
Investigators for the committee have been reviewing footage Quested shot on the day of the Capitol attack. His recent interview with the committee lasted seven hours.
The committee believes the new evidence represents a “significant breakthrough,” according to The Guardian, and could ultimately link the militias, the rally organizers, and the Trump White House.
“In essence,” writes The Guardian, “the select committee now appears to have the same degree of evidence as secured by the FBI and the justice department referred to in recent prosecutions for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Capitol attack.”
The outlet also notes that the committee’s investigators are divided into color-coded teams: the “gold team” examining Donald Trump, the “red team” examining the Save America rally organizers, and the “purple team” examining the militia groups.
The teams are now working together to determine “the direction for the remainder of the investigation,” according to The Guardian.
