The leader and four members of the far-right militia Oath Keepers involved in the January 6 2021 attack on the United States Capitol are on trial on Tuesday on a rare charge of treason.
Stewart Rhodes, a blindfolded former soldier and graduate of Yale Law School who planned a military-style attack on the Capitol, and his supporters accused of taking up arms against the United States in an attempt to keep Donald Trump in the White House. The electoral defeat of him.
The treason charge is the heaviest to date among the hundreds of people who took part in the January 6 uprising, which sought to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election, and includes a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Rhodes and a total of eight members of Oath Keeper were charged with treason; The trial of four of the eight will open on 29 November.
The allegations allege that Rhodes and his supporters conspired “to oppose the legal transfer of presidential power”.
According to Rhodes’ instructions, “he coordinated the trip across the country to enter Washington DC (and) he equipped himself with various weapons, donated combat and tactical equipment” for the attack, he said.
“We won’t make it without the civil war,” Rhodes told Oath Keepers in a group chat before the rebellion, according to the indictment.
If Biden becomes president, he said, “it will be a bloody and desperate battle … it cannot be avoided.”
rarely used commissions
The nine oath guardians would have been the first of nearly 870 to be tried for seditious conspiracy in the attack on the Capitol.
The majority were accused of illegally entering the Capitol, illegally interrupting a session of the legislature – confirming Biden as president-elect – and assaulting law enforcement.
The accusation of treason is rarely used by US prosecutors. The last time a conviction was obtained for an indictment against Ramzi Yousef, the planner of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.
The seditious conspiracy charge was used in this case in the absence of a national terrorism law and was used to highlight Yousef’s intention to harm the US government.
In the case of January 6, the accusation is used against members of armed militias, who allegedly participated and presumably coordinated with each other to carry out the attack.
On January 6, members of the Proud Boys, another major actor, were also charged with seditious conspiracy in June, but their case has yet to be brought to court.
defense of the act of rebellion
The Oath Keepers were founded by Rhodes in the early 2000s to bring together people, mostly ex-military, who believed the government was repressive and that it was time to turn into an armed rebellion.
The trial will focus on allegations that he planned a violent attack on January 6, set up a stockpile of weapons in a hotel a few miles (kilometers) from the Capitol and in a military-style “stack” formation. left together. Police lines and Capitol.
The FBI collected communications from group members and photos and videos of their actions that day.
Lawyers for the group suggest they will defend themselves by saying they understand Trump will invoke the Rebellion Act of 1807 that day and replace the militia to prevent Biden from being confirmed president.
The claim raised hope that the trial would reveal more about the attack on Capitol Hill and the relationships between members of the Trump administration or his personal advisers.
The jury will focus on the selection on the first day of the trial, with a jury of about ten people selected from 120 candidates.
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