Jury convicts Oath Keepers leader of seditious conspiracy
Stewart Rhodes’ conviction is the most significant to emerge from the Justice Department’s investigation of the 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo
A jury has convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes of masterminding a plot to violently subvert the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, finding that he entered into a seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government.
The jury also convicted Rhodes ally Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida Oath Keepers, of seditious conspiracy. But the jury acquitted three co-defendants — Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell — of joining Rhodes in that conspiracy. All five, however, were convicted on additional felony charges, including obstruction of Congress.
Rhodes’ conviction is the most significant to emerge from the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when dozens of Oath Keepers joined the mob that stormed the building and chased Congress, as well as then-Vice President Mike Pence, into hiding.
