Mr. Brown

I call him “Mr. Brown” with a nod to the game “Clue.” After all, it’s what I’ve been playing since January 6, 2021. Who is really behind what we witnessed?

Enter now Mr. Brown. Jeremy Michael Brown was arrested September 29, 2021 in Florida. He is 47 years old. A Veteran. He spent twenty years in the U.S. Army, seventeen of those years in the Special Forces as a Green Beret. He served multiple tours of duty, including Iran and Afghanistan. He was even featured on an Army Special Forces recruiting poster when he was 28 years old. And he was twice awarded the Bronze Star.

It is Mr. Brown’s arrest that gives us the “Ah-Ha!” moment that the FBI was desperate to penetrate the Oath Keepers and use them to cause the events of January 6, 2021 or at least get them close enough to the Capitol to place the blame on them.

Already, in my book, I discussed in detail that Thomas Caldwell was arrested January 19, 2021 and the first chance he got in the legal proceedings, he claimed himself to be a former “FBI Section Chief.” The US DOJ failed to respond to that allegation, either the first time Caldwell raised it or any subsequent time. When I recently sent the FBI a FOIA concerning Caldwell, the response was “We can neither confirm nor deny…” If Caldwell is/was not FBI, then why wouldn’t the FBI charge him for falsely impersonating an FBI employee or agent? I took the first round of appeal on that request, so stay tuned concerning Caldwell.

Chronologically, we then had four so-called “Oath Keepers” take plea deals. That would be Graydon Young (signed June 23), Mark Grods (signed June 29), Caleb Berry (signed July 13), and Jason Dolan (signed September 14). Two of those defendants, namely Caleb Berry and Mark Grods came onto court out of nowhere. Neither Berry nor Grods were indicted or subject to a complaint, even though the DOJ has, to date, filed through a Fifth Superseding Indictment, adding defendants as they investigated those charged. Berry and Grods also have separate federal case numbers. The cases appeared on Judge Mehta’s docket at the time of the unsealing of their pleas and the entry of the same into the record. All four are awaiting sentencing.

Mr. Brown’s case likewise appears under a unique case number (1:21-cr-00609). DOJ asked for his case to be assigned to Judge Mehta, and Judge Mehta, quite logically, said, “Why?” The DOJ then had to file a “Notice Regarding Case Relation,” explaining why they wanted Mr. Brown’s case designated as “related to” U.S. v. Caldwell, et al. The Court accepted the assignment on October 12. The Court, however, did not include Mr. Brown in the conglomerate case conference on October 14, and it has not included Mr. Brown in its conglomerate case notifications since.

Here’s where the case of Mr. Brown is the tell at the poker championships:

one of the defendants who took a plea reported Mr. Brown to the FBI for his activities leading up to January 6 – that defendant not knowing that Mr. Brown was already recruited by the FBI to “infiltrate” and “report” on activities of the Oath Keepers going into and on January 6. Apparently, two FBI informants ended up in the same car on the drive to Washington, D.C.

Further:

on January 6, while he was at the Capitol, Mr. Brown’s FBI handler called him to ask where he was – a call the handler again made on January 7. Mr. Brown accepted those calls.

Mr. Brown was arrested September 29 at his home. On the front door, Mr. Brown had posted a handwritten sign, directed at the FBI/DOJ/DHS. Mr. Brown has taken the position that he is ready to remain in jail as long as it takes to have an opportunity to testify at trial. He is taking the position that he will not accept any plea deal and that what he has to say could upset the political chessboard, constructed around January 6. It was the sign that reportedly caused Judge Flynn at arraignment in FL to order Mr. Brown held over pending trial. (I have not yet been able to get a transcript copy.)

Mr. Brown illustrates the level of desperation of the FBI to infiltrate and manipulate the Oath Keepers organization between the November 14 MAGA rally (election day was November 3) and the count of the electoral votes (January 6). The FBI’s desperation that became so intense that informants were unknowingly engaging with each other and informing on each other.

There were two primary forces undermining the Oath Keepers going into January 6. One, if we take the DOJ allegations on face, the Oath Keepers was failing to vet members, some like Laura Steele, applying January 3 to be with and among group members going to the scheduled event at the Ellipse/White House. That internal organizational failure was documented in my book. Second, again, taking DOJ allegations on its face, the FBI was failing to use its own guidelines for development of informants over the course of time and in accordance with a vetting metric. In other words, neither the Oath Keepers nor the FBI were sticking to their own time-honored procedures for on-boarding.

Yet, even with all this chaos, what remains consistent in the legal proceedings, Congressional hearings, and media coverage is that a handful of individuals who were actual members or who were tag-alongs/informants of the Oath Keepers went to the permitted rally at the Ellipse as their objective. Anyone who broke off from that small group of people to go to the Capitol grounds or inside the building arrived after the fact of the launch of events at that location.

The FBI was on the ground and the FBI had informants on the ground, and the situation got out of hand. This would certainly help to explain the phone calls reportedly made during the January 6 events at the Capitol to not only Mr. Brown but, also, Proud Boys. If there was pre-authorization from the FBI for informants to engage in otherwise illegal activities, imagine the FBI scramble to then comply with FBI department guidelines to “supervise closely” the illegal activities of the informant and to “minimize” collateral damage.

If it was me representing any of the group of potential actual members of the “Oath Keepers?” Move to sever Caldwell and Brown, and try to call them as witnesses. Add Berry and Grods to your witness list for trial. If that fails, gather the plentiful media coverage of Caldwell and Brown and fight to get that admitted.

Think about this: I’m only looking in depth at one small subset of (now) 21 defendants tagged as “Oath Keepers” in a sea of more than 650 thus far charged. There are several other labels that the FBI/DOJ are insistent on affixing to the events of January 6. Oh to have enough hours in the day.

For further consideration, here’s an interview with Mr. Brown on banthis.tv.

Paloma Capanna

Attorney & Policy analyst with more than 30 years of experience in federal and state courtrooms, particularly on issues where the Second Amendment intersects with other civil rights.

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