In raw and emotional testimony Wednesday, Jessica Watkins, a member of the Oath Keepers on trial for seditious conspiracy, recounted being drawn into the Internet’s conspiratorial background and how she believed she was acting like an American patriot on Jan. 6, 2021. .
Watkins made a surprise appearance on the stand to testify in her own defense and impress upon the jury that she was not aware of any plans to invade the US Capitol that day.
“It’s the question I’ve been asking myself ever since,” Watkins said of why she went to the Capitol that afternoon. “It was really stupid, I just got carried away there.”
“We were crazy,” he added. “We wanted to be heard.”
Watkins has pleaded not guilty to several charges stemming from the Capitol attack, including conspiracy to riot. Her four co-accused have also pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors alleged that Watkins was part of a so-called “stack” formation that entered the Capitol and was part of a crowd that pushed the police line outside the Senate chamber.
The militia leader testified that she never wanted to stop Congress’s January 6 certification of the 2020 election and never intended to stop the transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.
Watkins introduced herself to the jury by describing a painful upbringing. Watkins, who is transgender, said she knew she identified as a woman from a young age, but struggled with how or if she could express her identity publicly.
“My mom was pregnant with my sister when I was four and I remember wanting” to be a woman, Watkins testified. Watkins said she had a “strict Christian upbringing” and believed “her parents would never have accepted me”.
“I tried really hard to bury it,” Watkins said.
Watkins testified that she joined the U.S. military while the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was still in place and hid the fact that she was transgender. Watkins was searching online for support groups to talk about what she was going through when another soldier borrowed her computer, saw her search history and confronted her, she told the jury.
“He came into my room and slammed the door and put my laptop in front of me and screamed ‘I know what you are,'” Watkins said on the stand. “I panicked and cheated. I ran.”
After hiding for two months in Alaska, Watkins, who had served in Afghanistan, said she surrendered. He left the army with an other than honorable discharge. Watkins also went to her parents, he said, and “was told never to come home again.”
Although her family eventually accepted her, she said, Watkins told the jury she still struggles with her identity. She doesn’t feel she “belongs” to the trans community and sometimes finds herself using “disgusting” homophobic slurs as a way to “attack others like me”.
“To me it’s not a flag that you have to wave, ‘look how nice it is,'” Watkins testified. “For me it’s painful.”
Watkins testified that she established the Ohio Regular Militia in early 2020 to protect businesses as the election season began. At its peak, the militia had six members, Watkins said, including herself.
As the year progressed and Covid-19 restrictions began to take a toll on the bar she and her fiance owned, Watkins testified that she became absorbed in online conspiracies and became increasingly concerned that the United Nations might invade the US and force vaccination or that China could start bombing US military bases.
“I put two and two together and thought the United Nations would come in and go door to door,” Watkins said.
Watkins testified that her fears were driven in part by what she called a “steady diet” of watching conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ “Infowars.” “I probably watched five or six hours every day,” he said.
It was through Jones’ show that Watkins said she learned about the Oath Keepers. The leader of the far-right extremist group, Stuart Rhodes, had made several appearances. Rhodes is also on trial for sedition conspiracy.
“In hindsight, I feel I was gullible,” she told the jury.
Watkins testified that she began attending rallies and protests with Oath Keepers in 2020 with a mission to protect businesses and was excited.
“It kind of got into my blood … so I don’t know, I just couldn’t help myself,” Watkins testified. He began attending political rallies as a doctor, hoping to help people who were injured, or as a volunteer firefighter, Watkins testified.
“If I’m going to die for something, it’s probably going to matter,” he said.
Watkins testified that she had decided in late December to attend the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally and was excited about the prospect of providing security for right-hander Roger Stone.
“I was excited. It’s Roger Stone. It’s Trump’s inner circle. I just thought it was exciting,” Watkins testified, though she later learned that a different group of Oath Keepers from Alabama would be taking over Stone’s security detail.
Watkins said she helped escort the mother of a “Stop the Steal” rally speaker from the Ellipse to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and that she and other Oath Keepers made it to the front of the Capitol. The crowd split down the middle and cheered the Oath Keepers, Watkins testified.
“It felt really good,” Watkins testified, “We got up to the top of the stairs and then came back, sang the national anthem. … Everyone cheers. … I just felt really American.”
On the stand, Watkins admitted to entering the Capitol and obstructing officers.
“In my mind I thought it was this heroic American moment where I thought people were coming into our house, that we were going to be heard,” Watkins said. “It was at this moment that I lost all basic objectivity. I wasn’t doing insurance anymore, I wasn’t Dr. Jess anymore. I was just another idiot.”
Watkins testified that the rioters and police started pushing and she “kind of ran away” at that point.
“I want to say I’m sorry to you,” he told jurors, “but I’d rather say I’m sorry to Christopher Owens, the (Metropolitan Police) officer who was here. He was on the other side of it, protecting the Capitol from my dumb a**.’
