Oath Keeper sings

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty to his role in trying to disrupt the transition of presidential power broke down on the stand Monday as he testified against his former allies.

“I’m really sorry for what I did,” said Graydon Young of Florida.

[...]

He is one of the prosecutors’ key witnesses in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell.

  Politico

I'm guessing he'll get kicked out of the club - at the least.

Halting twice to choke back sobs, Young said he pleaded guilty because he had committed crimes, and that in order “to repent and be forgiven, you have to confess. Completely and wholly.”

“I won’t do anything like that ever again,” he said. “It’s really embarrassing.”

Because it's embarrassing?

Young’s testimony was the second time a member of the group who pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy took the stand against his former colleagues. Jason Dolan, another Florida Oath Keeper, testified earlier in the month.

How's he doing?

Dolan and Young both described struggles amid the Covid pandemic, combined with a deluge of pro-Trump media that fueled their beliefs that the 2020 election had been stolen. Young described an unhealthy diet of Facebook and YouTube content that he said left him “ginned up” about the election results. He withdrew from his family and became consumed by national politics, which led him to join the Oath Keepers in the weeks after Election Day 2020. His sister, Laura Steele, a fellow Oath Keeper, is awaiting trial for her part in the alleged obstruction conspiracy.

Young recalled first meeting some members of the group when he joined a security detail for Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and ally of Trump, in December 2020.

Young described feeling deflated as Jan. 6 approached, that the anger of the Oath Keepers wouldn’t be enough to overturn the 2020 election, and he raised those concerns in Signal chat groups that included other Florida Oath Keepers and Rhodes, the national leader of the group. But he said Rhodes “re-galvanized” him by suggesting he might have a direct line of contact with Trump and urging the group to take a stand in Washington.

[...]

“It was exhilarating. I felt like I was going to be an important or an integral part of what was happening.”

Young recalled talking with Harrelson and other Oath Keepers about the “apparent equipment the police had on.”

“They had on plastic armor covering, we talked about how effective or ineffective that would be against weapons, firearms,” Young said.

At this point, Young said he and his sister began feeling concerned about the group’s intentions and their potential legal exposure. The two of them left for Steele’s house in North Carolina, where they burned their gear, he said.

“My sister and I were solidly in freakout mode and scared,” he said, adding, “That’s when the embarrassment about the whole thing kicked in … I’m going to have to tell my mom.”

What a brave little soldier.

Young also agreed that as part of his plea negotiations with the government, he hopes to receive a relatively lenient sentence in exchange for his cooperation.

I'm sure. What would law enforcement do without rats jumping ship?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.