Today, the defense is expected to call witness Michael Greene aka Michael Simmons aka Whip aka Whiplash.
Whip was close to Stewart Rhodes. He was handpicked by the extremist network’s founder to serve as an “operations leader” on Jan. 6 and was added to most of the encrypted Signal chats where Rhodes and his co-defendants discussed plans to come to Washington during the congressional joint certification of the election.
Greene wasn’t the first choice for operations leader, however.
The first choice was Oath Keeper Donald Siekerman but after falling ill with Covid, he was unable to join the group in D.C. on Jan. 6. Siekerman testified on the defense’s behalf on Tuesday. It devolved fast for the defense. More on that here.
Greene previously worked what Rhodes described as “personal security details” for Oath Keeper and pro-Trump events. Rhodes spoke highly of him during his testimony in court and was quick to highlight Greene’s tactical experience.
When it came to Jan. 6, Greene was also tasked with providing “security” to Roger Stone.
Greene is currently under indictment, making his decision to testify a hugely risky move. If he takes the stand, he’ll waive his Fifth Amendment officially and could open himself up to a great number of risks—especially when prosecutors have adeptly unwound defense witness testimony during cross-examination.
In addition to Greene, there are questions swirling now around another defense witness: Greg McWhirter.
McWhirter serves as vice president of the Oath Keepers and was expected to testify on Rhodes's behalf. It was reported by The New York Times late Tuesday night that McWhirter also served as a confidential informant.
The Department of Justice appeared to confirm the reporting when they entered what was meant to be a motion under seal onto the public record. The motion asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, the presiding judge in the seditious conspiracy case, to ask defense attorneys for the Oath Keepers if it was them who leaked the detail to the Times.
Once Mehta took the bench this morning, he sealed the courtroom shortly after, likely to talk about this issue.
(Sealing the courtroom, for the uninitiated, means only parties to the case are allowed to be in the courtroom. The clerk also cuts the feed to the media room.)
Proceedings will hopefully be underway soon.