In our crowd-funded age, one might assume that being the founder of a nearly 40,000-member militia would confer advantages when it comes to raising cash online. But not so much for Stewart Rhodes — the Oath Keepers head honcho.
But Rhodes has not caught fire as a cause célèbre for his erstwhile followers. Through April 12, the fundraiser had collected less than $12,000 — from fewer than 200 contributors — securing less than 5 percent of its target.
The failure of crowdfunding has not left Rhodes lawyerless, however. Instead, his defense is dependent on support from a dark-money group, Defending the Republic, linked to , the superlawyer-turned-conspiracy-theorist best known for mounting feckless challenges to the 2020 presidential election, as part of a legal team Trump once touted as “The Kraken.”on Jan. 21 that it “is providing the defense for Oath Keeper, Stewart Rhodes.” Lawyers Philip Linder and James Lee Bright then registered, three days later, as Rhodes’ attorneys, per federal court records. The unusual arrangement drew no public attention in real time.
Neither Linder — who also launched Rhodes’ GiveSendGo campaign — nor Bright responded to questions about who pays for their services. SoRelle, who recently stepped away from the Oath Keepers after a brief stint as the group’s acting president, emailed succinctly on Tuesday: “Defend the Republic is paying for them — Sidney Powell.”asked Powell why Defending the Republic is funding the defense of Rhodes and other J6 defendants.