Federal prosecutors for the Department of Justice rested their case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four members of the group in the first seditious conspiracy trial in more than a decade.
In the span of four weeks, several government witnesses, including FBI agents, US Capitol Police officers, current and former members of the far-right militia group, and a representative from Facebook, testified in support of the DOJ's case that the five defendants schemed to stop the electoral college count on January 6, 2021.
Oath Keepers Seditious Conspiracy Trial
The defendants, Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson, and Thomas Caldwell, allegedly planned for an armed rebellion long before the unprecedented Capitol Hill riot, prosecutors said.
All of the five suspects, who are members of the Oath Keepers, have pleaded not guilty and will present evidence in their defense in the following weeks. Furthermore, some of the defendants suggested that they would testify in their own defense, including the group's founder, Rhodes, who is a graduate of Yale Law School, as per CNN.
Prosecutors largely relied on the Oath Keepers members' own alleged chat messages on encrypted apps in presenting their case. They also used the defendants' planning in the lead-up to January 6, which their leader allegedly saw as a deadline to prevent Joe Biden from becoming the United States president.
Furthermore, prosecutors presented several covertly recorded discussions where Rhodes and other defendants were allegedly talking about the election and warned of "combat here on U.S. soil."
According to NBC News, on October 3, opening arguments began in the seditious conspiracy trial along with several weeks of testimony, two of which were from Oath Keepers members, Jason Dolan and Graydon Young. The latter two pleaded guilty in connection with the January 6 attack.
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Capitol Hill Riot
Dolan testified that he wanted to scare members of Congress and that he was part of a group that "would be willing to fight" in order to let former United States President Donald Trump stay in office. On the other hand, Young testified that he was "acting like a traitor" on January 6 and thought that he was part of an event similar to the 1789 storming of the Bastille in the French Revolution.
Despite the charges, the government did not call for three members of the group, Joshua James, Brian Ulrich, and William Todd Wilson, who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, before resting their case.
The defense is expected to begin presenting their case, including testimony from the group's leader, Rhodes, on Thursday before both sides make their closing argument and give the case to the jury.
Rhodes previously wrote a message that was intended for the former president that called upon Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to stay in power and arrest members of Congress. The Oath Keepers founder said that if the decision was not made, Biden and Kamala Harris would imprison the former president and his family members.
The Oath Keepers founder said that he was ready to support the former president, adding that his group's members would also be loyal to him. Rhodes added that he will come to assist the former president, adding that he would be joined by military and police as well as millions of Trump supporters, the New York Times reported.
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