![]() Unless we fight a bloody civil war/revolution." ![]() "Trump has one last chance to act," he said. Rhodes reiterated that sentiment in chat group messages that day. "If you fail to act while you are still in office," he wrote, "we the people will have to fight a bloody civil war and revolution." Rhodes was more explicit a December 14 open letter to Donald Trump that was posted on the Oath Keepers website. We're not getting out of this without a fight." "We're very much in exactly the same spot that the founding fathers were in like March 1775," he said during a conference call after the election. ![]() They also recommended a sentencing enhancement based on "terrorism," defined as conduct "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct." Although Rhodes "did not engage in violence," the Justice Department said, his rhetoric inspired others to do so.īased on evidence cited in the sentencing memo, it is clear that Rhodes saw violence as a legitimate response to what he perceived as a stolen election. Mehta to take into account acquitted conduct in punishing Rhodes, as federal sentencing rules allow, and hold him responsible for the actions of his co-conspirators. Presidential Election," a vaguer description that better fits the facts that the jury accepted. The Justice Department's sentencing memo, which recommended a 25-year sentence for Rhodes, said he and other Oath Keepers "led a conspiracy that culminated in a mob's attack on the United States Capitol while our elected representatives met in a Joint Session of Congress." It also said Rhodes "led a conspiracy to oppose by force the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 U.S. ![]() Notably, the jury found him not guilty of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, a puzzling verdict if he did in fact direct his followers to assault the Capitol. Rhodes was at the Capitol grounds that day, and during his trial a federal prosecutor described him as "a general surveying his troops on the battlefield." But unlike other members of his group, he did not enter the Capitol or participate in the violence or vandalism. 6, 2021." It adds that the sentence is "the most severe penalty so far in the more than 1,000 criminal cases stemming from the Capitol attack."Ĭontrary to that gloss, Rhodes' role in the breach of the Capitol, which forced a delay in the congressional ratification of President Joe Biden's election, remains unclear. The New York Times says Rhodes was sentenced for "the role he played in helping to mobilize the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol on Jan. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., last week sentenced Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, and tampering with records. ![]()
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