Oath Keepers head Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy
Kaelan Deese
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Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for orchestrating an extensive plot to maintain Donald Trump‘s presidency despite his loss in the 2020 election.
District Judge Amit Mehta said that seditious conspiracy is one of the most serious crimes an American can commit, as it involves using force against the government and the people of the country.
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“It is an offense against the government to use force. It is an offense against the people of our country,” Mehta said.
This sentencing marks the first time in over 10 years that someone has been sentenced for seditious conspiracy.
Earlier, Mehta ruled that Rhodes’ actions can be classified as domestic terrorism, saying Stewart was the one “giving the orders.”
“He was the reason they were in fact in Washington DC. Oath Keepers wouldn’t have been there but for Stewart Rhodes, I don’t think anyone contends otherwise. He was the one who gave the order to go, and they went,” Mehta said.
Rhodes was convicted of the seditious conspiracy charge by a jury in Washington, D.C., in November. The trial marked a test of the scope in which the Justice Department can hold January 6 rioters accountable and whether prosecutors’ arguments that the breach of the Capitol was a serious risk to democracy would hold up.
“This is terrorism,” prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy said Thursday of Rhodes’ role in the riot, arguing he should be punished more harshly.
“It is not blowing up a building directly or telling someone to blow up a building, but in light of the threat of harm and historic nature of attempting to stop the certification of an election for the first time in American history,” Rakoczy said.
Before his sentence was handed down, Rhodes gave defiant comments maintaining his innocence and describing himself as a “political prisoner.”
“Like President Trump, my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country,” Rhodes said.
Mehta gave a heavy-handed rebuke of Rhodes’ words, arguing “For decades it is clear that you wanted the democracy in this country to devolve into violence.”
“You’re not a political prisoner. You’re here because 12 jurors in D.C. who acquitted you of multiple counts found you guilty of sedition,” Mehta said.
Rhodes’ sentencing comes at a pivotal time as DOJ special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump for any potential role in attempting to overturn his loss in addition to mishandling of classified documents. Recent reports have indicated Smith is nearing the end of his probing of Trump over the documents side of his investigation.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who made his official presidential bid announcement this week, said Thursday he would consider pardoning defendants who were arrested during the Capitol riot and potentially Trump himself, if he were elected as president.
“The DOJ and FBI have been weaponized, we see that in a variety of contexts … some of it is the FBI going after parents going to school board meetings … how they don’t go after people who are attacking pro-lifers,” DeSantis said on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show Thursday.
On day one, “I will have folks that will get together and look at all these cases, who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive at issuing pardons,” DeSantis said.
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More than 1,000 people have been charged with crimes in relation to the Capitol riot. Trump himself has promised to pardon defendants if elected to a second term.
DeSantis did not reference specific defendants from the Capitol riot but noted he would be looking closely at other potential offenders of the law at different protests in years past, such as instances of violence at Black Lives Matter demonstrations, to understand whether there’s been an “uneven application of justice.”