Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes of Granbury plots “armed rebellion,” prosecutor says

WASHINGTON – Extremist group founder Oath Keepers and four associates have planned an “armed rebellion” to keep President Donald Trump in power, a federal prosecutor argued Monday as the most serious case ever tried in the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.

Granbury’s Stewart Rhodes and his gang of extremists were poised to go to war to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president, US assistant attorney Jeffrey Nestler told jurors. The group celebrated the attack on the Capitol as a battle they had won and continued its plot even after Biden’s election victory was certified, Nestler said.

“Their goal was to stop, by any means necessary, the legitimate transfer of presidential power, including by taking up arms against the US government,” the prosecutor said in his opening statement. “They devised a plan of armed rebellion to shatter a foundation of American democracy.”

Rhodes and the other four are the first defendants on January 6 to be tried on seditious conspiracy charges, a rare Civil War-era indictment that takes up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which secured its latest seditious conspiracy conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago.

Rhodes’ attorney painted a very different picture, describing the Oath Guardians as a “peacekeeping” force. He accused prosecutors of building their case on selected evidence from messages and videos and told jurors that the “true picture” would show that the Oath Guardians were simply preparing for the orders they expected from Trump but not. they never arrived.

“Stewart Rhodes didn’t want to hurt the Capitol that day. Stewart Rhodes had no violent intent that day, “said Rhodes attorney Phillip Linder.” The story the government is trying to tell you today is completely wrong. “

On trial with Rhodes are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida oath keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired US Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led a group of Ohio militiamen. They also face many other charges. About 900 people were charged and hundreds were sentenced in the attack on the Capitol. Rioters broke through police barriers, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with officers, broke windows and halted the certification of Biden’s election victory.

But the Guardians of the Oath are the first to be tried for seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that takes up to 20 years behind bars. The process should take several weeks.

Prosecutors will tell jurors that the antigovernment group’s uprising was not a spontaneous outburst of election-fueled anger, but part of a long-running plot to prevent Biden from entering the White House.

On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida oath keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired US Navy intelligence officer from Virginia; and Jessica Watkins, who led a group of Ohio militiamen. They also face many other charges.

Rhodes began plotting to overturn Biden’s victory soon after the election, Nestler said. In November 2020, Rhodes sent his followers a step-by-step plan to stop the transfer of power on the basis of a popular uprising that brought down the president of Yugoslavia two decades earlier. As December approaches, Rhodes’ rhetoric has become increasingly violent and desperate, Nestler said.

In messages and comments read to the jury, the Oath Guardians have repeatedly warned of the prospect of violence if Biden were to become president. In a December interview, Rhodes called the senators “traitors” and warned that the Guardians of the Oath should “overthrow, abort or abolish Congress.”

Rhodes knew that if the Oath Guardians hadn’t stopped Congress from certifying the vote on January 6, it would have been much more difficult to prevent Biden from taking office, Nestler said.

The Oath Keepers organized the lineup, including a session that was recorded on video and set to rock music. Before coming to Washington, they set up teams of “rapid reaction forces” with “weapons of war” hidden in a Virginia hotel so that they could quickly take them to the capital if needed, the prosecutor said.

While the Oath Guardians stormed the Capitol with helmets and other battle gear, Rhodes remained outside, like “a general guarding his troops on a battlefield,” Nestler said. After the attack, the Oath Guardians were “elated,” the prosecutor said.

“These defendants were fighting a war and won a battle on January 6 … but they planned to continue that war to stop the transfer of power before the inauguration day. Thankfully, their plans were thwarted, ”Nestler said.

In the days between the riot and Biden’s inauguration, Rhodes spent more than $ 17,000 on parts for firearms, ammunition and other items, prosecutors say. Around the time of the inauguration, Rhodes told others to organize local militias to oppose the democratic administration, authorities say.

“Patriots entering their own Capitol to send a message to the traitors is NOTHING compared to what is coming,” Rhodes wrote in a message on the evening of January 6.

Defense lawyers say the Oath Keepers only came to Washington to provide security at events for figures like Trump’s ally Roger Stone ahead of the president’s large outdoor rally behind the White House. Rhodes said there was no plan to attack the Capitol and that the members who did so acted alone.

Rhodes’s attorney told jurors that his client will take a stand to argue that he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call a militia, which Rhodes had asked him to do to prevent Biden from becoming president. Rhodes’s lawyers said he was simply lobbying the president to invoke a US law.

Nestler targeted the Insurrection Act claim, saying it was just an attempt to cover up Rhodes’s illegal plan. “Rhodes, with a law degree was careful with the same words as him. Instead of saying their plan out loud, they used a code – or an abbreviation – the Insurrection Act, “he said.

In a December 2020 message, Rhodes wrote that Trump “needs to know that if he doesn’t act, then we will.”