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Posted: 2021-01-20T23:10:28Z | Updated: 2021-01-20T23:10:28Z

At least a dozen people associated with far-right groups and militias in multiple states have been charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol a number likely to grow as authorities continue to make arrests.

On Wednesday, federal authorities arrested Joe Biggs, a prominent member of the far-right Proud Boys gang, who will face at least three charges related to his participation in the riot. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged three rioters associated with the Oath Keepers militia on several counts related to the siege, including criminal conspiracy. Days earlier, an Indiana man surrendered to authorities after footage from the attack showed him wearing an Oath Keepers Lifetime Member hat and allegedly attacking Capitol police with bear spray. Others charged include far-right extremists associated with the Three Percenters militia and other so-called Patriot movement groups.

The charges give a clearer look at how organized paramilitary groups along with white supremacists, far-right gang members and QAnon conspiracists played a key role in the attempt to overturn the presidential election. The anti-government extremist movement closely aligned itself with President Donald Trump while he was in office; even though hes now gone, members of this movement and other far-right groups are positioned to be a domestic terror threat for years to come.

In the charging affidavit released on Tuesday against Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell and associated militia members Donovan Crowl and Jessica Watkins, the FBI stated that the group coordinated their trip to D.C. with the intent of supporting Trumps anti-democratic bid to remain in power. In Facebook posts and other messages days before the siege, Caldwell rallied other militia members with extremist fantasies of mass action against the government.

It begins for real Jan 5 and Jan 6 on Washington D.C. when we mobilize in the streets. Let them try to certify some crud on capitol hill with a million or more patriots in the streets. This kettle is set to boil, Caldwell said in a Facebook comment on Dec. 31.

During the attack on the Capitol, Caldwell and other militia members were part of a group wearing tactical combat gear who communicated in real time about their movements and plans. According to the charging affidavit, eight to 10 militia members in Oath Keepers paraphernalia were moving in an organized and practiced fashion as they forced their way to the front of a crowd at one of the Capitol doors.