Elmer Stewart Rhodes III,
Founder of the American neo-Nazi 'Oath Keepers' domestic terrorist group
Charged with sedition
Founder of the American neo-Nazi 'Oath Keepers' domestic terrorist group
Charged with sedition
According to this report and the US Department of Justice, FBI agents have arrested the founder and leader of the neo-Nazi terrorist group, the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, 56, of Granbury, Texas, on a charge of sedition in connection with the failed coup d’état at the Capitol on Jan 6th, 2021. FBI agents also arrested Oath Keepers member, Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, on the same charges.
According to the Department of Justice:
According to the seditious conspiracy indictment, the defendants conspired through a variety of manners and means, including: organizing into teams that were prepared and willing to use force and to transport firearms and ammunition into Washington, D.C.; recruiting members and affiliates to participate in the conspiracy; organizing trainings to teach and learn paramilitary combat tactics; bringing and contributing paramilitary gear, weapons and supplies – including knives, batons, camouflaged combat uniforms, tactical vests with plates, helmets, eye protection and radio equipment – to the Capitol grounds; breaching and attempting to take control of the Capitol grounds and building on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the electoral college vote; using force against law enforcement officers while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; continuing to plot, after Jan. 6, 2021, to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power, and using websites, social media, text messaging and encrypted messaging applications to communicate with co-conspirators and others.It is becoming perfectly clear that the attack on the Capitol on 6th January 2021 was not a disorganised, spontaneous demonstration that turned violent and went too far because no-one was in charge, but a carefully-planned, financed and coordinated neo-Nazi attempted coup d’état aimed at destroying democracy in the USA, overturning an election and installing a fascist president by force of arms.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a large crowd began to gather outside the Capitol perimeter as the Joint Session of Congress got under way at 1 p.m. Crowd members eventually forced their way through, up and over U.S. Capitol Police barricades and advanced to the building’s exterior façade. Shortly after 2 p.m., crowd members forced entry into the Capitol by breaking windows, ramming open doors, and assaulting Capitol police and other law enforcement officers. At about this time, according to the indictment, Rhodes entered the restricted area of the Capitol grounds and directed his followers to meet him at the Capitol.
At approximately 2:30 p.m., as detailed in the indictment, Hackett, Harrelson, Meggs, Moerschel and Watkins, and other Oath Keepers and affiliates – many wearing paramilitary clothing and patches with the Oath Keepers name, logo, and insignia – marched in a “stack” formation up the east steps of the Capitol, joined a mob, and made their way into the Capitol. Later, another group of Oath Keepers and associates, including James, Minuta, and Ulrich, formed a second “stack” and breached the Capitol grounds, marching from the west side to the east side of the Capitol building and up the east stairs and into the building.
While 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. According to the indictment, the QRF teams were prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of operations aimed at using force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. The indictment alleges that the teams were coordinated, in part, by Caldwell and Vallejo.
The charge of seditious conspiracy carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Northern District of Texas and the District of Arizona.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with valuable assistance provided by the FBI’s Dallas and Phoenix Field Offices. These charges are the result of significant cooperation between agents and staff across numerous FBI Field Offices, including those in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia, among other locations.
In the one year since Jan. 6, more than 725 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 225 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
Few people at the time were aware that there were heavily armed 'teams' of insurrectionists stationed around DC, prepared to launch an attack on the police and security forces trying to maintain order. The signal for the armed attack was to be the declaration of a state of emergency by the defeated president, Donald Trump, which, for reasons which can only be guessed at, never came.
Only a few days earlier, amid speculation that Trump himself, as commander in chief of the US armed forces, would declare a state of emergency, declare martial law and install a military government with himself as the head of it, leaders of the armed forces had taken the unprecedented step of declaring that they would not support a military coup, but would defend the consitution. In other words, they would disobey their commander in chief if necessary, if he tried to launch a coup.
It seems Trump made the political calculation that an armed insurrection was unlikely to succeed in the long term, especially if the leaders of the armed forces performed their duty to defend the constitution, and decided that, rather than risk his inevitable arrest and imprisonment, his best chance was to continue to promulgate the 'Big Lie' of a stollen election and wait for another run at the presidency in 2024.
And behind all this is the sense of entitlement of white supremacist, evangelical Christians who have come to believe that the only legitimate government in the USA is one of their choosing because God created America just for them.
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