Oath Keepers Member Faces January 6 Conspiracy Charges - US Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A federal grand jury in Washington, DC has indicted a member of the Oath Keepers movement with conspiracy and other crimes involved in the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, the Justice Department said.

"Michael Greene, 39, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was arrested in Indiana [on Thursday]," the Justice Department said in a press release on Friday. "He is being charged for the first time in connection with his actions before, during and after January 6."

Greene, also known as Michael Simmons, faces five charges, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The US Congress was meeting to ratify the results of the 2020 presidential election when the protest and the breach of the building took place, the release said.

"As alleged in the indictments, the Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, they explicitly focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement, and first-responder personnel," the release added.

According to the indictment, Greene took part in an online meeting on November 9, 2020, in which Oath Keeper leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 57, of Granbury, Texas, presented a plan to block the lawful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Greene later was chosen by Rhodes to be an operations leader for activities on January 6, according to the release.