WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 As angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, ready to smash through windows and beat police officers, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes extolled them as patriots and harkened back to the battle that kicked off the American Revolutionary War.
鈥淣ext comes our 鈥楲exington,'" Rhodes told his fellow far-right extremists in a message on Jan. 6, 2021. 鈥滻t's coming."
Jurors will begin weighing his words and actions on Tuesday, after nearly two months of testimony and argument in the criminal trial of Rhodes and four co-defendants. Final defense arguments wrapped up late Monday.
The jury will weigh the charges that the Oath Keepers were not whipped into an impulsive frenzy by Trump on Jan. 6 but came to Washington intent on stopping the transfer of presidential power at all costs.
The riot was the opportunity they had been preparing for, prosecutors say. Rhodes' followers sprang into action, marching to the Capitol, joining the crowd pushing into the building, and attempting to overturn the election that was sending Joe Biden to the White House in place of Trump, authorities allege.
Not true, the Oath Keepers argue. They say there was never any plot, that prosecutors have twisted their admittedly bombastic words and given jurors a misleading timeline of events and messages.
Hundreds of people have been convicted in the attack that left dozens of officers injured, sent lawmakers running for their lives and shook the foundations of American democracy. will decide, for the first time, whether the actions of any Jan. 6 defendants amount to
The jury鈥檚 verdict may well address the false notion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, coming soon after 2022 midterm results in which voters . The outcome could also shape the future of the Justice Department鈥檚 massive and costly prosecution of the insurrection that some conservatives have sought to portray as politically motivated.
Failure to secure a seditious conspiracy conviction could spell trouble for another high-profile trial beginning next month of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and other leaders of that extremist group. The Justice Department's Jan. 6 probe has also expanded beyond those who attacked the Capitol to focus on others linked to Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
In the Oath Keepers trial, prosecutors built their case using dozens of encrypted messages sent in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. They show Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to 鈥渞ise up in insurrection.鈥
鈥淲e aren鈥檛 getting through this without a civil war. Prepare your mind body and spirit,鈥 he wrote shortly after the 2020 election.
Three defendants, 鈥 a move generally seen by defense lawyers as a last-resort option because it tends to do more harm than good. On the witness stand, Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, and his associates 鈥 Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio 鈥 sought to downplay their actions, but struggled when pressed by prosecutors to explain their violent messages.
The others on trial are Kelly Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida, and Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida. Seditious conspiracy carries up to 20 years behind bars, and all five defendants also face other felony charges. They would be the first people convicted of seditious conspiracy at trial since the 1995 prosecution of Islamic militants who plotted to bomb New York City landmarks.
The trial unfolding in Washington鈥檚 federal court 鈥 less than a mile from the Capitol 鈥 has provided a window into the ways in which Rhodes mobilized his group and later tried to reach Trump.
But while authorities combed through thousands of messages sent by Rhodes and his co-defendants, none specifically spelled out a plan to attack the Capitol itself. Defense attorneys emphasized that fact throughout the trial in arguing that Oath Keepers who did enter the Capitol were swept up in an spontaneous outpouring of election-fueled rage rather than acting as part of a plot.
Jurors never heard from three other Oath Keepers who have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy.
Over two days on the witness stand, a seemingly relaxed Rhodes told jurors there was no Capitol attack plan. He said he didn't have anything to do with the guns some Oath Keepers had stashed at a Virginia hotel that prosecutors say served as the base for 鈥渜uick reaction force鈥 teams ready to ferry an arsenal of weapons across the Potomac River if necessary. The weapons were never deployed.
Rhodes, said his followers were 鈥渟tupid鈥 for going inside. Rhodes, who was in a hotel room when he found out rioters were storming the Capitol, insisted that the Oath Keepers' only mission for the day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot.
That message was repeated in court by others, including a man described as the Oath Keepers' 鈥渙perations leader" on Jan. 6, who told jurors he never heard anyone discussing plans to attack the Capitol.
A government witness 鈥 an Oath Keeper cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of a lighter sentence 鈥 testified that there was an 鈥渋mplicit鈥 agreement to stop Congress鈥 certification, but the decision to enter the building was 鈥渟pontaneous.鈥
鈥淲e talked about doing something about the fraud in the election before we went there on the 6th," Graydon Young told jurors. 鈥淎nd then when the crowd got over the barricade and they went into the building, an opportunity presented itself to do something. We didn鈥檛 tell each other that.鈥
Prosecutors say the defense is only trying to muddy the waters in a clear-cut case. The Oath Keepers aren't accused of entering into an agreement ahead of Jan. 6 to storm the Capitol.
Defense attorneys for Caldwell, Watkins and Harrelson worked on Monday to cast doubt on the timeline presented by prosecutors, saying that communications were hampered by overwhelmed cell towers and that other rioters forced Congress to recess before they arrived.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler, though, said any lag was brief and the Oath Keepers were among the rioters who interrupted congressional proceedings by preventing lawmakers from coming back into session to certify the presidenial vote.
Citing the Civil War-era seditious conspiracy statute, prosecutors tried the Oath Keepers conspired to forcibly oppose the authority of the federal government and block the execution of laws governing the transfer of presidential power. Prosecutors must show the defendants agreed to use force 鈥 not merely advocated it 鈥 to oppose the transfer of presidential power.
After the riot, Rhodes tried to get a message to Trump through an intermediary, imploring the president not to give up his fight to hold onto power. The intermediary 鈥 a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president 鈥 recorded his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead.
Rhodes told the man, speaking of Trump, 鈥淚f he's not going to do the right thing and he鈥檚 just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles.鈥 He said, 鈥淲e should have fixed it right then and there. I鈥檇 hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost,鈥 Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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Richer reported from Boston.
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