ATLANTA - A Georgia member of the right-wing anti-government group Oath Keepers pleaded guilty Friday to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, agreed to cooperate with the government's ongoing investigation as part of the plea agreement, the U.S. Justice Department announced in a news release.
Ulrich admitted taking part in disrupting a joint session of Congress convened to count the Electoral College votes in the 2020 presidential election. The count was delayed for about six hours after riotous protesters took over parts of the Capitol building and lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the count, were whisked to safety.
Ulrich also admitted that from November 2020 through January 2021, he conspired with other Oath Keepers members and affiliates to plan the attack. He and others used encrypted and private communications, equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to use force to stop the transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
Ulrich purchased tactical gear and other items, including two-way radio receivers, a recon backpack, a tactical holster, a medical tourniquet, and a half-skull motorcycle helmet. On Jan. 4, he traveled with other Oath Keepers to Washington, D.C., staying in a downtown hotel.
On Jan. 6, after learning the Capitol had been breached, Ulrich and others traveled to the Capitol on golf carts and drove around multiple barricades, including marked law enforcement vehicles. He and others weaved through a restricted area in a military “stack” formation, with hands on shoulders, and marched in a line up the stairs on the east side of the Capitol.
