-by Dorothy Reik and Howie Klein
Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers, and a former Army paratrooper, enters the ranks of seditious Yale Law School graduates, joining, among others, Senator Ted Cruz and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. At the moment SCOTUS is considering a Ted Cruz suit that, if Cruz prevails-- and with Kavanaugh’s help he could-- would make bribery of elected officials legal, even more legal than it already is.
Today Rhodes was arrested and charged with "seditious conspiracy" for "organizing a wide-ranging plot to storm the Capitol last January 6 and disrupt the certification of of Biden’s electoral victory."
Rhodes did not personally enter the Capitol so he thought he could avoid charges-- having been directed his group by cell and chat app-- but it seems some of his underlings pled guilty and shared their encrypted messages with the Feds that confirmed that Oath Keepers planned to enter the Capitol and disrupt the certification. They even had weapons stashed at safe houses around DC to arm a "rapid response team" to support their mission. Now the question is how high does it go? We know the Oath Keepers were intimately involved with Mike Flynn, Roger Stone and Ali Alexander at the January 6th rally and before. Who else is guilty of "seditious conspiracy?" Members of the House, even beyond Lauren Boebert? Senators? White House staffers? The Trump children? Señor Trumpanee himself? We expect Rhodes will start talking and take others down with him! Isn’t that what we would expect from a Yale man?
Alan Feuer and Adam Godman reported that Rhodes' arrest this afternoon by the FBI "was a major step forward in the sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack and the case marked the first time that prosecutors had filed charges of sedition. The Oath Keepers, along with the Proud Boys, have emerged as the most prominent far-right extremists to have taken part in the assault on the Capitol. Prosecutors have collected reams of evidence against them, including encrypted cellphone chats and recordings of online meetings. They have charged its members not only with forcing their way into the building in a military-style 'stack,' but also with stationing an armed 'quick reaction force' at a hotel in Virginia to be ready to rush into Washington if needed."
Through their lawyers, members of the Oath Keepers who are already facing charges have said they converged on Washington just before Jan. 6 as part of a security detail hired to protect conservative celebrities like Roger Stone, the longtime ally of Trump.
...[A]t least four Oath Keepers who were at the Capitol that day and are cooperating with the government have sworn in court papers that the group intended to breach the building with the goal of obstructing the final certification of the Electoral College vote.
Rhodes has also attracted the attention of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, which issued him a subpoena in November. In a letter at the time, House investigators noted that Rhodes had taken part in several events intended to question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election throughout that fall and winter.
On Election Day, according to the letter, Rhodes said that an “honest” count of the votes could only result in a victory for Trump and called on members of his group to “stock up on ammo” and prepare for a “full-on war in the streets.”
Within a week of Election Day, Rhodes had told the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that he had men stationed outside Washington prepared to act at Trump’s command.
Around the same time, federal prosecutors say, he urged his fellow Oath Keepers at an online meeting to support Mr. Trump, calling him the “duly elected president” and adding: “You can call it an insurrection or you can call it a war or fight.”
The drumbeat continued through the winter, prosecutors say, as Mr. Rhodes appeared at a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020, and called on Mr. Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, suggesting that a failure to do so would result in a “much more bloody war.” At the rally, Mr. Rhodes acknowledged in a television interview that he and members of his group were there to provide security for celebrity speakers along with another shadowy paramilitary organization, the First Amendment Praetorian.
On Jan. 4, just two days before the storming of the Capitol, Mr. Rhodes posted an article on the Oath Keepers website calling on “all patriots” to “stand tall in support of President Trump’s fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup.”