Thursday, January 13, 2022
FBI picks up Oath Keepers boss
Leading right-wing extremist arrested for Capitol storm
“Conspiracy to insurgency” is the charge: the authorities in the USA arrest the head of the extreme right-wing, anti-government militia Oath Keepers in the Capitol storm case. He is said to have endangered the state and had a “rapid reaction force” ready to storm Washington.
Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, has been arrested by the FBI in the US and charged with “conspiracy to insurgency”. The 56-year-old is said to have organized a far-reaching conspiracy on January 6, 2021 to storm the Capitol in Washington and disrupt the certification of US President Joe Biden’s election victory, according to the federal police. In addition to Rohdes, ten other people were charged. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison.
The indictment, which was announced by a grand jury on Wednesday and has now been released, alleges that Rhodes and his co-conspirators were involved in a conspiracy to “oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force by destroying the execution of laws governing the transfer of power”. It is the first time that prosecutors have brought charges of subversive rioting in this case.
Rhodes is a former US Army paratrooper and graduated from Yale University with a law degree. At the latest since last spring, he has been investigated for his role on January 6th. Rhodes’ involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol protests has been proven. He is said to have communicated with members of his team via cell phone and the chat app Signal, many of whom entered the building. However, there is no evidence that Rhodes entered the Capitol. According to the CNN TV channel, he wrote to several contacts shortly after the siege began: “All I see from Trump is that he’s complaining. I don’t see him intending to do anything. So the patriots take it take matters into your own hands.”
Armed “rapid reaction force”
The Oath Keepers, founded by Rhodes in 2009, are among the most prominent right-wing extremists involved in the attack on the Capitol, along with the Proud Boys. They are an anti-government, right-wing political organization dedicated to supporting and defending their interpretation of the US Constitution against all enemies at home and abroad. The group is affiliated with the Militia Movement, an extremist umbrella organization based on beliefs that the US government is part of an evil conspiracy aimed at depriving Americans of their natural rights and freedoms.
Prosecutors have gathered a wealth of evidence against the Oath Keepers, including encrypted cell phone chats and recordings of online meetings. The members are not only accused of having entered the building with military formations, but also of having stationed an armed “rapid reaction force” in a hotel in Virginia in order to storm into Washington if necessary.
Hundreds of radical supporters of President Donald Trump, who was voted out, stormed the Capitol in Washington when the victory of US Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 presidential election was to be certified there. The storming of the seat of Congress with five dead caused horror worldwide and is considered a black day in the history of US democracy.