![]() ![]() Jurors considered 10 charges against the five defendants, including three conspiracy charges, obstructing the certification of the electoral college vote and tampering with documents. The Justice Department alleged that the Oath Keepers members – Rhodes, Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell – conspired to forcibly stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from then-President Donald Trump to Biden and plotted to attack the US Capitol. “The FBI will always uphold the rights of all citizens who peacefully engage in First Amendment protected activities, but we and our partners will continue to hold accountable those who engaged in illegal acts regarding the January 6, 2021, siege on the US Capitol,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Tuesday. ![]() Prosecutors had argued that the attack on the US Capitol was more than just a political protest that got out of control, but rather a violent attack on the seat of American democracy and an effort to keep Joe Biden out of the Oval Office by any means necessary. Stewart Rhodes and fellow member of Oath Keepers found guilty of sedition Stewart Rhodes takes the witness stand and is questioned by his defense attorney. By using it against members of the Oath Keepers the department is expressing that it sees the breach of the Capitol as a grave threat to the operation of the US government. ![]() The charge has rarely been brought in the century and a half that the statute and its forerunners have been on the books. The historic criminal trial – the first of three seditious conspiracy cases set to start this year – was a major test of the department’s ability to hold January 6 rioters accountable. While the jury split on a number of other charges brought against the five alleged members of the right-wing militia group, even two guilty verdicts on the seditious conspiracy charge marked a significant win for the Justice Department and was hailed as vindication by the House select committee investigating the insurrection. The statute reads: "If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.A Washington, DC, jury on Tuesday convicted Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and associate Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy for their role around the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Words that inspire a revolution that overthrows the government are an example of sedition.Īnother definition of sedition is "organized incitement of rebellion or civil disorder against authority or the state, usually by speech or writing." What is seditious conspiracy? Sedition in the dictionary is defined as "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch." 2 The word seditious is linked to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack What is sedition? ![]()
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