• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, June 2, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home National

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
05/26/23
in National
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021. Photo by Andrew Caballero/AFP via Getty Images

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia was handed an 18-year prison sentence Thursday for sedition in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, the toughest penalty given yet over the January 6 assault.

Out of the more than 1,000 people charged over the attack, Stewart Rhodes was singled out for directing his heavily armed group to descend on Washington and use violence if necessary to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.

“Seditious conspiracy is among the most serious crimes an American can commit,” said Judge Amit Mehta in pronouncing the sentence.

“You present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country,” Mehta told Rhodes, who organized the Oath Keepers January 6 participation in the attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

“You are smart, charismatic and compelling and that is frankly what makes you dangerous,” Mehta said — rejecting 57-year-old Rhodes’ claim that he was a “political prisoner.”

The sentence fell short of the 25 years the government had sought, although Mehta accepted the argument that the Oath Keepers’ plan to violently block Biden’s presidency amounted to terrorism.

The leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison for his conviction on seditious conspiracy charges for the role he played in helping to mobilize the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. https://t.co/Dt9TYIiFh4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 26, 2023

Just ahead of the sentence, Rhodes, wearing an eye patch and dressed in his orange prison jumpsuit, defiantly defended his group and their actions in support of Trump.

“My only crime is opposing those destroying our country,” he declared, comparing himself to the famed Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 

Blame Trump

Mehta focused on the Oath Keepers’ stockpiling of weapons just outside the city and wearing combat-style gear in an organized push into the Capitol that day, sending lawmakers and vice president Mike Pence fleeing to safety.

For several hours, they successfully blocked Congress from certifying Biden’s victory over Trump in the November 202 presidential election.

For prosecutors, that showed a level of planning and preparation for violence not present with many of the others in the crowd.

In an echo of Rhodes’ punishment, hours later Mehta gave Kelly Meggs, 54, the chief of the Florida branch of the Oath Keepers, 12 years in prison, also for sedition — plotting to overthrow the government or unlawfully opposing its authority.

Rhodes, Meggs, and three other Oath Keepers were convicted by a Washington jury in November in the first trial to apply the charge of sedition to the actions of some of those involved on January 6.

Since then, other Oath Keepers and members of another militia, the Proud Boys, have also been convicted of the charge, potentially raising the stakes for Trump and many in his circle who have come under investigation for their possible roles in encouraging and instigating the violence.

During the Oath Keepers trial, prosecutors said the group “concocted a plan for an armed rebellion… plotting to oppose by force the government of the United States.”

Rhodes’ attorneys argued that he himself never entered the Capitol building and that he did not support others doing so.

But Mehta rejected that as anything mitigating the sentence.

Rhodes was unequivocally the leader of the group and summoned them to Washington with a cache of arms for the violent assault, Mehta said.

“Stewart Rhodes is a Yale Law grad and a pretty smart guy,” the judge said. “He was the one giving the orders… They were there because of him.”

Rhodes’ attorney Phillip Linder however said he should not be held responsible for the Capitol attack and pointed his finger at Trump.

“I think what happened on January 6 was deplorable,” Linder told the court.

But Rhodes did not plan the uprising, he insisted.

“We need to look at what caused this… Who got the Million Maga rally started?… Who got January 6 started?” Linder said.

“He’s not the one that started that rhetoric that got the people ginned up.”

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.
National

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

by Staff Writer
May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg
National

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

by Staff Writer
May 16, 2023
A man holding a gun
Opinion

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

by Stephen J. Lyons
May 12, 2023
US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill
National

US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill

by Staff Writer
May 11, 2023
A laptop screen showing ChatGPT
National

Scientists Use Brain Scans and AI to ‘Decode’ Thoughts

by Staff Writer
May 1, 2023
Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi
Environment

After Tornado Kills 25, Mississippi Faces More Extreme Weather

by Staff Writer with AFP
March 26, 2023
Next Post
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe's Broken Border System

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post