Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber and King were in constant contact, texting and calling each other, according to information police seized from Barber’s phone. Those messages show Barber first contacted King on Jan. 14, two weeks before the convoy arrived in Ottawa, where he offered to add King as an administrator on the “Take back our Freedoms Convoy 2022” Facebook page. According to the documents, organizer Tamara Lich called a meeting with Barber and King on Jan. 18 and asked King directly about his network of contacts involved in the protest. “Can you get me a meeting with the captains?” Lich asked on January 18th. “Can you give me an idea of how many drivers each captain oversees?” King was also included in a series of group texts with convoy organizers, outlining strategy and logistics. King’s involvement varied from spreading information about the protest on his podcast, providing updates on Facebook and providing street food along the convoy’s route across Canada. As the escort protest gained more attention, questions about King’s earlier comments began to surface online. Barber received several messages from protest supporters highlighting their concerns. “Hey Chris, still following you guys, but Twitter is going crazy over Pat King saying things that made him sound violent,” a supporter messaged Barber via TikTok on Jan. 25. A day later, Lich also reiterated concerns about King. “If he doesn’t stop now and now, he needs to go to Chris’s house. I honestly hate doing it. I think a part of his heart is in it for the right reasons, but he’s going to bring this whole thing down.” In a video sent to Barber, King can be heard saying, “the only way to solve this is with bullets.” King has also expressed his support for the “White Replacement Theory”, a conspiracy theory that promotes fears that Caucasians are being replaced by various means. As the escort protest progressed through Ottawa, Barber began to express his own concerns about her relationship with King and the need to distance the movement from him. “Pat King needs to go home,” Barber wrote in a Feb. 2 message to local Alberta procession organizer Glenn Curritt. On the morning of February 10, King and other supporters slow vehicles around Ottawa International Airport, restricting access. Barber texted King saying the airport was “very congested, we want presence but not closure.” King responded by saying the slow roll was over, but wondered why Barber was texting him since “I ain’t got nothing to do with you guys, I thought.” There are several missed calls from King to Barber during the last week of the protest in Ottawa. However, the two men remained in contact until Barber’s arrest on February 17. Barber is currently out on bail in Saskatchewan. He is charged with counseling disturbance, intimidation, counseling intimidation, counseling obstructing police and obstructing police. After his arrest on February 18, King remains behind bars in Ottawa facing charges of mischief, counseling to commit mischief, counseling to commit the offense of disobeying a court order and counseling to obstruct police Lich returned to an Ottawa jail after the Crown alleged she violated the terms of her release by contacting entourage spokesman Tom Marazzo at an event in Toronto. He faces a new charge of breach of recognizance, as well as previous charges of disturbing, counseling, obstructing police, counseling to obstruct police, counseling intimidation and intimidation by blocking and obstructing one or more highways in connection with the protest.
