Justice Department prosecutors have charged Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes“seditious conspiracy” in relation to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
In the weeks after the 2020 election, Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, had some stark advice for then-President Donald Trump: Invoke a 19th century law known as the Insurrection Act and call out the National Guard to crack down on “domestic traitors” and reverse the “fraudulent” victory of Joe Biden.
The use of the seditious conspiracy law, which also dates back to the 19th century, was an audacious move by the department; the statute has rarely been invoked, in part because of civil liberties concerns. One of the few modern occasions where such charges were used to prosecute alleged domestic terrorists was when four militants, demanding independence for Puerto Rico from the U.S., shot up the House of Representatives in 1954, wounding several members of Congress.
Rioters clash with police while trying to enter Capitol building through the front doors, Jan. 6, 2021. Organizer Joe Biggs, in green hat, and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, holding megaphone, march with members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators during a rally in Portland, Ore., in August 2019.
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