The investigation into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, has seen two legal and political developments. A far-right official was arrested Thursday as four social networks were called to testify before MPs and senators, a year following the attack on the seat of the US parliament in Washington.
Stewart Rhodes, 56, charismatic leader and founder of the Oath Keepers, one of America’s main far-right groups, has been accused of “sedition”. This is the most serious charge held to date once morest the participants in the attack, which came as elected officials certified Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election.
In addition to their leader, ten other members of the Oath Keepers were also indicted for “sedition”. Nine of them had already been arrested and faced prosecution for “criminal conspiracy” to interfere with an official process or violence, which involved some degree of coordination. The charge of “sedition”, very rarely used and punishable by 20 years in prison, goes further. It involves having conspired once morest the government or one of its laws, a much more political dimension.
“Civil war” necessary
Two days following the presidential election of November 3, 2020, Stewart Rhodes said in a cryptic conversation with other members: “We will not be able to get out of this without a civil war”, according to the indictment. Before January 6, Stewart Rhodes “joined” with some of his co-defendants “in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power”, in particular “by using violence”.
The members of the Oath Keepers arrested thus “organized transport from all over the country to Washington, equipped themselves with all kinds of weapons, dressed in combat gear and they were ready to respond to Rhodes’ calls to arms.” Their aim was to “enter by force and attempt to take control” of the Capitol, the document claims.
At the time of the attack, Stewart Rhodes, a former serviceman who founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, was near the Capitol, but it is unclear whether he entered its compound. In addition to Stewart Rhodes, a law graduate from Yale University before practicing in the state of Montana, the police arrested Thursday, in Arizona, another member of this radical group, Edward Vallejo, 63 years old.
Protect the Constitution ” once morest its foreign and internal enemies”
Rhodes is the figurehead, recognizable by his blindfold on the left eye, of this largely decentralized paramilitary organization with several thousand members, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which fights anti-Semitism and racism. In particular, the Oath Keepers oppose the federal government, accused of collaborating with a global conspiracy to deprive American citizens of their rights, including the right to own a weapon. The organization primarily recruits soldiers, police, firefighters or members of the emergency services, who have taken an oath to protect the American Constitution ” once morest its foreign and domestic enemies”, according to the ADL. Upon entering the Oath Keepers, they also promise to disobey any order from a “tyrannical government” that violates the Constitution, such as “disarming the Americans” or imposing martial law on the country.
The Oath Keepers, literally the “Oath Keepers,” dressed in military uniforms and in arms, increased their visibility in 2020 by participating in protests once morest restrictions imposed in some states to stem the Covid-19 pandemic. They were also displayed on the sidelines of the major anti-racist demonstrations that rocked the country to, according to them, protect businesses from looting. The group also takes up conspiracy theories such as the existence of a “deep state” within the US administration wanting to establish a “new world order” and undermine the authority of former President Donald Trump. . Since January 6, more than 725 people, including members of far-right groups Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, have been arrested for their participation in the assault on the Capitol.
Twitter accused of hosting attack planners
In another part of this vast investigation, the parliamentary commission charged with shedding light on the events and establishing the responsibility of Donald Trump, announced Thursday to assign the social networks Alphabet, parent company of YouTube, Meta (formerly Facebook), Reddit and Twitter. Elected officials want to know “to what extent the spread of disinformation and violent extremism has contributed” to this assault and the possible measures taken by these companies to prevent their platforms from becoming tools of radicalization. They believe that these networks have provided “insufficient answers” to previous requests for collaboration.
Two questions are of particular interest to investigators: how the spread of false information contributed to this attack and what measures social media took to prevent their platforms from becoming breeding grounds for radicalization. Twitter, formerly the former president’s favorite social network, is of interest to the committee because of communications between subscribers “concerning the planning and execution of the assault on Capitol Hill” which allegedly took place on the platform. The social network, say the investigators, would have been warned of the risk of violence before January 6. YouTube is targeted because of the videos that the demonstrators would have broadcast live on the platform during the assault. The committee is keen to publish its findings before the mid-term elections in November 2022. If the Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives, the equivalent of the National Assembly, it risks being dissolved by the republicans.