Assault on the Capitol: the leader of an American far-right group arrested

The investigation into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 is making great strides. This Thursday, the head of one of the main groups of the American far right was arrested, while, on the same day, the parliamentary committee assigned four social networks to testify in the investigation.

Stewart Rhodes, 56, a charismatic leader and founder of the Oath Keepers, has been charged with “sedition” for his role in the attack on Congress. This is the most serious charge to date against the participants in the assault, which occurred when elected officials certified the victory of Joe Biden against Donald Trump in the presidential election.

In addition, nine other members of this far-right paramilitary organization had already been arrested on the same charge, and all faced charges of “criminal association” to obstruct an official process or violence , which implied a certain degree of coordination. The charge of “sedition”, very rarely used and punishable by 20 years in prison, goes further. It implies having conspired against the government or one of its laws, a much more political dimension.

Two days after the presidential election on November 3, 2020, Stewart Rhodes, recognizable by his patch over his left eye, said in an encrypted conversation with other members: “We can’t get out of this without a civil war”, according to the indictment. Before January 6, the figurehead of the movement “associated” with some of his co-defendants “with a view to preventing the peaceful transfer of power”, especially “using violence”.

Members of the arrested Oath Keepers have thus “organized transport from all over the country to Washington, equipped themselves with all kinds of weapons, dressed in combat gear and were ready to answer Rhodes’ calls to arms”. Their goal was to “to enter by force and attempt to gain control” of the Capitol, the document claims.

At the time of the attack, Stewart Rhodes, a former serviceman who founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, was near the Capitol, but it’s unclear whether he entered its compound. In addition to Stewart Rhodes, a law graduate from Yale University before practicing in the state of Montana, the police arrested Thursday, in Arizona, another member of this radical group, Edward Vallejo, 63 years old.

In another part of this vast investigation, the parliamentary commission, responsible for shedding light on the events of January 6 and establishing the responsibility of Donald Trump, announced Thursday to assign the social networks Alphabet, parent company of Youtube, Meta ( formerly Facebook), Reddit and Twitter.

Two questions are of particular interest to investigators: how did the spread of false information contribute to this attack and what measures have social networks taken to prevent their platforms from becoming breeding grounds for radicalization? Twitter, the former president’s favorite social network, is of particular interest to the commission because of communications between subscribers “concerning the planning and execution of the assault on the Capitol” that would have taken place on the platform. The social network, assure the investigators, would have been warned of the risk of violence before January 6.

YouTube is targeted because of the videos that the demonstrators allegedly broadcast live on the platform during the assault. The commission is desperate to publish its findings before the midterm elections in November 2022. If the Democrats lose control of the House during the ballot, it risks being dissolved by the Republicans.