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Sunday 4 June 2023 Dublin: 17°C
Alamy Stock Photo Protesters on the steps of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021
# 6 january
US indicts founder of far-right Oath Keepers for sedition in Capitol attack
Stewart Rhodes, 56, was arrested earlier today.

THE FOUNDER OF the far-right group Oath Keepers and 10 others were indicted for seditious conspiracy in the 6 January 2021 assault on the US Capitol, the Justice Department has announced.

It was the first use of the potent sedition charge in the sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

Stewart Rhodes, 56, who founded and led the right wing militia group, and anotherĀ associate of the organization, Ed Vallejo, were arrested earlier today.

Nine men with ties to the Oath Keepers who had been previously arrested on lesser charges in the violent attack, which temporarily shut down the US Congress, were also named in the new indictment as part of the alleged seditious conspiracy.

ā€œFollowing the Nov 3, 2020, presidential election, Rhodes conspired with his co-defendants and others to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power by Jan 20, 2021,ā€ the Justice Department said in a statement.

It said that beginning in late December, 2020, they secretly made plans to travel to Washington with plans to prevent certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the presidential election.

They brought weapons to Washington as part of their plans for ā€œbreaching and attempting to take control of the Capitol grounds and building,ā€ it said.

ā€œWhile certain Oath Keepers members and affiliates breached the Capitol grounds and building, others remained stationed just outside of the city in quick reaction force (QRF) teams… prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washingtonā€ to halt the certification, it said.

If found guilty they face up to 20 years in prison.

Ā© AFP 2022

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