A clip of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was shown in front of a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, will go on trial following jury selection begins Tuesday in one of the most high-profile cases stemming from the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. .
Among those being tried is the leader of the group, Stewart Rhodeswho is accused along with four other people of seditious conspiracy, that is, conspiracy to oppose the transfer of presidential power.
All five have pleaded not guilty but face up to 20 years in prison.
The trial in Washington might be the most significant on January 6 to date, given the seriousness of the charges and the potential to answer a key question: how far in advance was the trial planned? storming the capitol de EE.UU.?
A pro-gun anti-government group launched in 2009, the Oath Keepers began with a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of one of the first battles in the American Revolutionary War. .USA
Its founder, Stewart Rhodes, is a former US Army paratrooper who studied at Yale Law School and was once an aide to Libertarian Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.
The group is named following the oath of service taken by police, military and other officials. Those who take the military oath, for example, pledge to “support and defend the US Constitution once morest all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Oath Keepers focus recruitment on people with military and law enforcement experience, as well as other workers on the front lines of the fight.
Investigators of extremist groups have been aware of the group from the beginning, but it began to gain a higher profile when its armed members turned up amid protests and civil unrest.
In 2014 they were seen in a gun battle between a Nevada rancher and police. Later that year, the Oath Keepers were in Ferguson, Missouri, during protests following a black man, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a police officer.
Members of the Oath Keepers carry rifles in Ferguson, Missouri, on the first anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in 2015.
In that case, they said they were protecting business interests in the area.
“The danger with that is that they’re getting into already tense situations,” said Alex Friedfeld, a researcher at the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center on Extremism. “It increases the likelihood of violence,” he added.
Members of the Oath Keepers in the assault on the Capitol last year.
Prosecutors say Stewart Rhodes began a campaign to reject the results of the November 2020 presidential election two days following the vote, while ballots were still being counted.
On November 5, the Oath Keepers leader told his followers on Signal, a private messaging app, “We’re not going to get through this without a civil war. Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body and spirit.”
Biden was declared the winner of the election on November 7, 2020.
According to the federal indictment, Rhodes and others spent thousands of dollars on weapons and equipment over the next two months, made plans to hide them, and organized members into military-style units.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a mix of groups—along with hundreds of people with no apparent connection to organizations—gathered outside the Capitol following then-President Donald Trump held a political rally nearby.
Trump urged his supporters to march to Congress to “peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard,” but also told the audience: “And if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country anymore.”
Among those who attended were the Oath Keepersmembers of the Proud Boys (extreme right), militias like Three Percenters and believers in QAnona conspiracy theory.
Some Trump allies have downplayed the assault, characterizing it as a spontaneous gathering in which most participants stayed outside the Capitol building.
But in the months that followed, evidence emerged of pre-planning and possible coordination between groups.
The Oath Keepers have been involved in a series of protests and armed confrontations in the US in the last decade.
There is no evidence Rhodes entered the Capitol on the day of the attack, but prosecutors say other Oath Keepers members did.
The other four who will have to answer in front of a judge are Thomas Caldwell, a former Navy officer from Virginia who once worked for the FBI; Kelly Meggs, director of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, who reportedly toured the House of Representatives looking for Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and Jessica Watkins, an Afghanistan war veteran from Ohio.
Rhodes and the others are accused of continuing to conspire following the riots. On the night of January 6 he sent another message: “Patriots walking into their own Capitol to send a message to traitors is NOTHING compared to what is coming.”
Fractures in the group
The trial may also show how the group was divided following the assault on the Capitol. Three members have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and may be called as witnesses at trial.
In early September, the ADL analyzed a leak of Oath Keepers membership lists and found hundreds of US government officials, police officers and soldiers, though some are no longer members or have since rejected the organization.
Experts say the threat from far-right groups remains, regardless of the outcome of the trial and other high-profile cases.
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