Oath Keepers founder charged with seditious conspiracy in Capitol attack

Washington: Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, authorities said on Thursday (local time).

Rhodes is the highest-ranking member of an extremist group to be arrested in the deadly siege and it is the first time the Justice Department has brought a seditious conspiracy charge in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers.Credit: Jared Ramsdell/Journal Inquirer via AP

Rhodes is charged along with more than a dozen other members and associates of the Oath Keepers, who authorities say came to Washington intent on stopping the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building on January 6, but is accused of helping put into motion the violence that disrupted the certification of the vote.

The Oath Keepers case is the largest conspiracy case federal authorities have brought so far over January 6, when thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed past police barriers and smashed windows, injuring dozens of officers and sending lawmakers running.

“We are going to have a fight,” prosecutors said Rhodes told his allies on the messaging app Signal. “That can’t be avoided.”

The Oath Keepers are a loosely organised group of activists who believe that the federal government is encroaching on their rights, and focus on recruiting current and former police, emergency services and military members.

Nine of the eleven charged with seditious conspiracy were already facing other charges relating to the Capitol attack. Members of the far-right Proud Boys and Three Percenters have also been charged with taking part in the attack.

The indictment says Rhodes started sending messages to his followers in November 2020, the month of Trump’s election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, encouraging them to “oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power.”

After his defeat, Trump repeatedly made false claims that his loss was a result of widespread fraud. He repeated those claims in a fiery speech near the White House before thousands of his followers stormed the Capitol in the worst attack on the seat of Congress since the War of 1812.

Members of the Oath Keepers on the East Front of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington. Credit: AP

Prosecutors said that beginning in late December 2020, Rhodes used private encrypted communications to plan to travel to Washington on Jan. 6. He and others planned to bring weapons to help support the operation, prosecutors said.

While some of the Oath Keeper members rushed inside the building wearing tactical gear, others remained outside in what they deemed “quick-response force” teams, which were prepared to rapidly transport arms into the city, prosecutors said.

Jon Moseley, an attorney for Rhodes, told Reuters he was on the phone with Rhodes to discuss his planned appearance before the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 when the FBI called.

“He patched me in on the call and I identified myself as his lawyer,” Moseley said in an e-mail. The agent then told him they were outside Rhodes’ home in Granbury, Texas, and were there to arrest him.

An undated photo provided by the Collin County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office shows Stewart Rhodes. Credit: AP

The indictment alleges that Thomas Caldwell, who was previously charged, and Edward Vallejo of Arizona, a new defendant, were in charge of coordinating the quick-response force teams.

Seditious conspiracy is a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland last week vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in the attack on the Capitol. The department has charged more than 725 people with crimes arising from the attack. Of those people, about 165 have pleaded guilty and at least 70 have been sentenced. Garland said the Justice Department would “follow the facts wherever they lead.”

AP, Reuters

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