Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extreme right-wing militia Oath Keepers, has been accused along with ten other people for the events that occurred on January 6, 2021
The United States Department of Justice has reported this Thursday the arrest of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia Oath Keepers, who has been accused of sedition along with ten other people for his participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6 of 2021.
The indictment alleges that Rhodes and his accomplices participated in a conspiracy to “oppose by force the legal transfer of presidential power, preventing, hindering or delaying the implementation of the laws that govern this process,” explained the Department of Justice , which denounces that they would have “prepared and transported firearms and ammunition to Washington.”
Rhodes, 56, had used social networks the day before the attack to encourage his people, “all patriots”, to travel to Washington on a “security mission” with which to defend “President Trump’s fight ». However, his support was short-lived, since on the same day of the assault on the Capitol and after lamenting that the former president only knew how to “complain”, he said that it was time to “take the reins”.
This is the first major accusation made against a member of these heavily armed militias who were present in the January 6 riots. Until now, the rest of the members of these extreme right groups who were arrested had been accused of conspiring to hinder a legal process, but without the nuance of sedition, which has a strong political charge.
Since November 2021, the committee of the United States House of Representatives that investigated the attack on the Capitol has intensified its actions against these militias, which they accuse of having planned the assault, even requesting the appearance of both Rhodes and the Proud Boys leader, Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio, who was arrested on the eve of January 6 for an incident at a previous rally.
Since the investigations began, more than 725 people have been charged by the Justice Department for their involvement in those incidents, some of whom are part of dangerous and heavily armed far-right militias such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, while The special committee of the House of Representatives has taken statements from dozens of collaborators of former President Donald Trump.
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