Champaign County bartender, ‘militia’ joined Capitol breach
A Champaign County bartender who runs a self-identified militia, joined by three others in her unit, drove to Washington D.C. last week to join what descended into a seditious mob invasion of the U.S. Capitol.
Jessica Watkins, 38, said she doesn’t consider herself as having committed a crime — she said she didn’t destroy property or tussle with police officers.
While she and one other man in her unit roamed hallways around the U.S. Senate (she said the two others are elderly and stayed outside), they made active efforts to stop any property destruction.
“It still staggers my imagination that it went down the way it did,” she said. “I don’t want to call it a false flag, but it was some people hijacking what started off as a peaceful movement.”
On Jan. 6, untold hundreds or thousands rushed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to disrupt congressional affirmation of the presidential election, which President
Donald Trump has baselessly and repeatedly deemed fraudulent.
Five people died including an officer killed by rioters and a woman shot by police.
The insurrectionists chanted for the death of Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Authorities located Molotov cocktails, zip ties and makeshift gallows on the premises, raising darker questions as to who in attendance harbored what intentions. Dozens of U.S. Capitol Police and Washington D.C. Metro Police officers were injured.
Watkins formed the “Ohio
State Regular Militia” in late 2019. It has patrolled 12 protests in total to “protect people” and treat injuries to Black Lives Matter activists or MAGA types alike, she said. Watkins served in the U.S. Army, including one tour in Afghanistan.
When Louisville responded in outcry after a grand jury failed to indict any officers in the death of Breonna Taylor, OSRM was there, as they were for protests in Cleveland, Columbus and Pickerington as well as a “MAGA Caravan” in Champaign County.
After networks first projected Joe Biden won the election, the militia appeared at the state Capitol to “protect people” — all three declined to give their names at the time.
Watkins dismissed characterizations of the riots as insurrectionist or violent as media spin. She said she and several other militia members who she entered the complex with saw the invaders marveling at the art and architecture of the Capitol like tourists.
She described the scene inside the building as “patriotic” and rife with “USA! USA!” chants until it devolved into carnage and chaos.
“To me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw until we started hearing glass smash,” she said. “That’s when we knew things had gotten really bad.”
Watkins demanded charges be filed against the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, as well as anyone who participated in the killing of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Three other invaders died, though details of what happened are unclear.