Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison

On Thursday, Stewart Rhodes, the founder and head of the Oath Keepers, was given an 18-year prison term for orchestrating a vast scheme to keep then-President Donald Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.

Kelly Meggs, a second Oath Keepers member and the organization's commander in Florida, received a 12-year prison term.

The sentences are the first seditious conspiracy offences to be sentenced in more than ten years.

District Judge Amit Mehta remarked before imposing the sentence, "What we absolutely cannot have is a group of citizens who foment revolution because they did not like the outcome of an election or because they did not believe the law was followed as it should be." You did exactly that, I said.

Mehta stated, "I dare say, Mr. Rhodes - and I never have said this to anyone I have sentenced - that you pose a continuing threat and peril to our democracy and the fabric of this country.

"I dare say we all now hold our collective breath when an election is approaching," the judge continued. Will January 6 ever come around again? That will need to be determined.

Rhodes, 58, has not shown any remorse, according to Mehta, and he still poses a threat.

When you combine those two ideas, the judge declared, "a seditious conspiracy is one of the most serious crimes an American can commit." "Using force is a crime against the government. It is a crime against the citizens of our nation.

Mehta had determined earlier in the day on Thursday that Rhodes' conduct qualified as domestic terrorism.

Washington, DC - January 6, 2021: Following a rally with President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol. Trump supporters gathered in the capital today to voice their opposition to the declaration that Vice President-elect Joe Biden had defeated President Trump in the 2020 Electoral College vote. (Image courtesy of Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Victims of the Capitol Riot describe their ordeals before the Oath Keepers seditious plot.

sentencing

Mehta stated that "he was the one giving the orders." He was in charge of setting up the teams that day. He was the reason they were in Washington, DC, in the first place. Nobody disputes that Oath Keepers wouldn't have existed without Stewart Rhodes, in my opinion. He gave the order for them to go, and they did so.

A Washington, DC, jury found Rhodes guilty of seditious conspiracy in November during a historic criminal trial that tested the Justice Department's capacity to hold the January 6 rioters accountable and supported the prosecution's claims that the Capitol breach posed a serious threat to American democracy.

In the one and a half centuries that the Act and its predecessors have been in effect, the accusation of seditious conspiracy has only occasionally been presented.

Harry Dunn, a US Capitol Police officer who testified earlier this week regarding his encounter on January 6, told CNN that Donald Trump should be "next."

It's a step in the right direction, Dunn said of full accountability. "His solicitors contended that Donald Trump is the cause of the issue, and I completely agree with them. Come on, let's go get him.

In a sentence of 18 years, Dunn observed, "I have a hard time finding joy or celebration." I think that people should anticipate justice rather than celebrate it.

The sentencing should have a "chilling effect on these groups," according to CNN's Juliette Kayyem, a national security analyst, particularly as the presidential election season gets underway.

The Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other organisations will find it harder to recruit new members as a result of this harsh punishment, according to Kayyem. It will also be harder for them to raise money.