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Oath Keepers leader denies planning to attack US Capitol

The founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers, on trial for “sedition”, denied this Monday that he “planned” the attack on the Capitol and classified as “stupid” those who invaded the headquarters of the United States Congress.

Stewart Rhodes, a 57-year-old former military man known for wearing an eyepatch and having a law degree from the prestigious Yale University, has been on trial for more than a month along with four other members of the Oath Keepers in federal court in Washington. .

The prosecution accuses him of having “conspired” to forcibly fight the results of the 2020 presidential elections and of having purchased and stored weapons near the federal capital as part of the planning of the attack on the headquarters of Congress.

Wearing helmets and combat gear, Oath Keepers militants joined Donald Trump supporters who stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, as lawmakers prepared to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

Rhodes did not participate in the invasion, but led his followers via radio, “like a general on the battlefield”, according to prosecutors.

“We weren’t there to stop certifying the results (of the election), we hadn’t planned to enter Capitol Hill,” Rhodes told the jury. “That was not part of our mission.”

Rhodes said the Oath Keepers are “a law enforcement organization” and were simply intended to provide security during a rally called by Trump to protest the election results.

The accused added that he was confronted with a fait accompli and considered it “stupid” that some of its members entered the seat of Congress, which “opened the door to our political persecution, and look where we are”.

“Contrary to the Constitution”

Prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy recalled that Rhodes spent $17,000 on weapons and equipment before January 6, and showed several messages in which the militia leader specifically mentioned “a civil war.”

The defendant challenged the prosecutor to prove that he had issued a call to violence on January 6.

According to Rhodes, the preparations enumerated by the prosecutor were intended to allow the Oath Keepers to react quickly if Donald Trump decided to declare a state of insurrection, under an 1807 law that authorizes presidents to mobilize certain armed forces in exceptional contexts.

“It was the first time that an election was held so blatantly against the Constitution”, added Rhodes, repeating the accusations of fraud that, without evidence, the former Republican president promotes.

More than 880 people who participated in the attack on the Capitol were arrested and hundreds received varying degrees of punishment.

But only a few members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys militias are prosecuted for sedition, a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Trump is the subject of a parliamentary investigation to determine his responsibility.

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