The founding leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes, began his closing argument Friday in his conspiracy and sedition trial in connection with his involvement in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, just months after Donald Trump’s election defeat.
Rhodes is on trial alongside Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, fellow members of this paramilitary organization, some of whom have already pleaded guilty to some of the charges that had been brought against them for their participation in that riot, NBC recounts.
Rhodes’ closing argument is scheduled to continue next Monday, a date by which the defense hopes to dissuade and convince a popular jury that over the past five weeks has heard from his violent coup rhetoric of those days to his attempts to communicate with Donald Trump to activate the insurrection law to cling to power.
Some of the most compromising evidence for Rhodes, who had the gall to compare himself to former South African President Nelson Mandela during the trial, reveals how the «only regret» he felt during that January 6 was not having enough weapons to take power by force.
«We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I would hang the whore Pelosi from a lamppost,» Rhodes is heard saying in one of these audios that support the accusation of the U.S. Justice Department, which is asking for him and his followers sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
The trial of Rhodes and the rest of his clique is the first in more than a decade against a U.S. extremist group. In this case, the leadership of Oath Keepers is accused of trying to stop by force the confirmation by Congress of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2019 presidential election.
Prosecutors hope to prove that the five defendants were part of a well-organized plan, which consisted of reconnaissance operations prior to armed rapid-response attacks and even a military assault on Congress.
At the same time, prosecutors seek to highlight the ties many of these groups had with associates and allies of a Trump, who has never hidden his sympathy for them. In one of the presidential election debates he called on them to «back off» and «wait,» while refusing to condemn supremacist violence, and holding anti-fascist militants accountable.
There are already some Oath Keepers who have acknowledged in previous hearings and trials these ties, such as Kellye SoRelle who revealed that she contacted former White House aide Andrew Giuliani — son of Rudy Giuliani — or William Todd Wilson, who recounted how Rhodes «repeatedly implored» to contact Trump to let him know they were ready to stop the peaceful transfer of office.
