A U.S. federal court has sentenced Oath Keepers founder Stuart Rhodes to 18 years in prison for sedition and other offenses related to the January 2021 Capitol attack.
Then, supporters of the 45th President of the United States, Republican Donald Trump, seized the building of the American Parliament, trying to prevent Congress from certifying the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the elections in November 2020.
Rhodes, 57, was found guilty by a jury in Washington in November 2022, Judge Amit Mehta gave him the longest sentence ever handed down in this case, with more than a thousand people convicted in the case.
“What we absolutely cannot allow is for groups of citizens who do not like the results of the elections and who do not believe that the law is being properly enforced to foment a revolution,” Mehta said ahead of the sentencing. “I dare say, Mr. Rhodes – and I have never said this to any person I have sentenced – you are a constant threat and danger to our democracy and the fabric of this country.”
Prior to sentencing, Rhodes — a lawyer trained at one of the world’s most prestigious Yale University and a former paratrooper — said he was a political prisoner opposed to people “who are destroying the country.”
In addition to the charge of conspiracy to sedition — a felony that includes attempting to “overthrow, suppress or destroy by force the government of the United States” — Rhodes was also convicted of obstruction of official proceedings and forgery. He was acquitted of two more charges. He did not enter the Capitol building in January 2021.
