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Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers, testified this November 4 at the trial in which he faces charges of seditious conspiracy, after the assault on the Capitol in 2021. The attack on the heart of American democracy becomes relevant in the face of the mid-term elections, in whose campaign former President Donald Trump has taken an active role with which he hopes that the Republicans will wrest control of the Legislative.
As a “civic” movement, Stewart Rhodes defended the far-right group he founded, Oath Keepers, one of those accused of participating in the mob of supporters of former United States President Donald Trump, who on January 6, 2021 attacked the Capitol .
Rhodes, who is facing seditious conspiracy charges that carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, denied that his organization was racist or a militia movement, prosecutors say.
In tears at times, Rhodes faced the jury as he described members of his organization as peaceful and disciplined.
“Do you love your country?” his attorney asked, to which Rhodes replied “absolutely,” amid defense attempts to describe the accused group and its founder as “patriots.”
The other defendants are Kelly Meggs, Florida leader of Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, Thomas Caldwell, a retired US Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led a militia group from Ohio.
The defense maintains that there was no plan to attack the Capitol, since those designated by the far-right group assert that they were in Washington on the fateful day to provide security to right-wing figures such as Roger Stone and not to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.
The accusations of the accusing party
Throughout the trial, prosecutors have asserted that the defendant, a former Army paratrooper, is a radical far-right figure who urged his supporters to use any means necessary, including violence, to keep Trump in power and prevent Congress from certifying the electoral victory of President Joe Biden.
Some of the most notorious evidence that the prosecution highlights are the audios in which Rhodes is heard affirming that he intended to “hang” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there
In addition, in the recordings cited by the authorities, the man is heard assuring that his “only regret” during the events of that January 6 was not having enough weapons to take power by force.
“We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I would hang Pelosi from a lamppost,” Rhodes is heard saying in one of the audios that support the accusation of the United States Department of Justice, which asks for him and others Oath Keepers participants sentenced to up to two decades in prison.
Prosecutors say Rhodes spent weeks mobilizing his gang of extremists, stockpiling weapons and preparing for violence to prevent Biden from becoming president.
The plot came to a head on Jan. 6, investigators say, when members of Oath Keepers dressed in military gear stormed the Capitol, along with hundreds of other Trump supporters.
The weeks after the presidential elections of November 8, 2020 were marked by multiple accusations without evidence of an alleged “fraud”.
The politician’s subsequent call to his supporters to “fight like demons” was the trigger in the unusual assault on the heart of the democracy of the first power. Reason why the former president has also faced investigations and political trials from which he was acquitted.
With Reuters and local media
