Factbox-Oath Keepers dealing with seditious conspiracy trial in U.S. Capitol assault By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Police clear the U.S. Capitol Constructing with tear fuel as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump collect exterior, in Washington, U.S. January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith/File Picture

By Chris Gallagher

(Reuters) – Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and 4 different defendants linked to the far-right militia group are set to go on trial subsequent week on expenses of seditious conspiracy arising from the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Here’s a have a look at the defendants as a result of go on trial on Sept. 27 and the costs they face.

STEWART RHODES

Rhodes, 57, of Granbury, Texas, is a former U.S. Military paratrooper turned Yale College-educated lawyer. He’s the founder and chief of the Oath Keepers. The group, which contends the federal authorities is encroaching on its rights, focuses on recruiting present and former army, police and emergency service members, in keeping with the Justice Division.

Rhodes, in addition to his co-defendants, is accused of conspiring to cease the peaceable switch of presidential energy in a failed bid to dam Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump within the 2020 election. Rhodes and the opposite defendants face the hardly ever prosecuted cost of seditious conspiracy, a felony carrying a most sentence of 20 years in jail and outlined as trying “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by power the federal government of the USA.”

He and the opposite defendants additionally face expenses that embody obstruction of an official continuing and tampering with paperwork. Rhodes and the others have pleaded not responsible.

Based on the indictment, Rhodes started encouraging his Oath Keepers followers in November 2020 to “oppose by power the lawful switch of presidential energy.” Trump has made false claims that the election was stolen from him by means of widespread voting fraud.

Rhodes arrange a chat on the encrypted messaging app Sign during which members deliberate to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, when Congress was scheduled to certify Biden’s victory, in keeping with the indictment. Rhodes spent hundreds of {dollars} on firearms and associated tools earlier than and after Jan. 6, the indictment said.

He entered restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, directed Oath Keepers members by textual content and phone on what positions to take up across the constructing, and continued plotting with co-conspirators after the assault, in keeping with the indictment.

THOMAS CALDWELL

Caldwell, 68, of Berryville, Virginia, helped coordinate preparation for what the Oath Keepers known as fast response power, or QRF, groups, which have been able to quickly transport weapons into Washington from simply exterior the town to assist operations across the Capitol, in keeping with the indictment.

The indictment mentioned Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who as soon as labored for the FBI, took a reconnaissance journey into Washington in November 2020, selected a resort in suburban Arlington, Virginia, as the short response power’s base of operations, and mapped routes to the Capitol from the resort.

In the course of the Jan. 6 assault, Caldwell joined with others in pushing previous barricades and climbing stairs to a balcony in a restricted space on the west aspect of the Capitol constructing, in keeping with the indictment.

Caldwell has denied he was a member of the Oath Keepers however prosecutors have mentioned he has sturdy ties to the group.

KELLY MEGGS

Meggs, 53, of Dunnellon, Florida, was the pinnacle of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and led a primary group of members into the Capitol on Jan. 6, in keeping with the indictment.

Meggs and different Oath Keepers members, many carrying paramilitary clothes and patches with the Oath Keepers insignia, marched in an organized army trend up the east steps of the Capitol and stormed by means of a heavy set of doorways into the constructing alongside a mob, the indictment mentioned.

KENNETH HARRELSON

Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida, helped Meggs in organizing the Florida Oath Keepers and was a part of the militia group that stormed into the Capitol constructing, in keeping with the indictment.

These members pushed ahead as a part of a mob that “assaulted regulation enforcement officers guarding the doorways, threw objects and sprayed chemical compounds towards the officers and the doorways, and pulled violently on the doorways,” the indictment added. Harrelson and others later moved towards the Home of Representatives chamber in quest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, however didn’t discover her, it mentioned.

JESSICA WATKINS

Watkins, 40, of Woodstock, Ohio, led the Ohio staff of Oath Keepers on the Capitol on Jan. 6, in keeping with the indictment. The Afghanistan warfare veteran charged into the constructing with different members and commanded these round her to push towards a line of officers guarding the hallway to the Senate chamber, earlier than retreating when officers used a chemical spray, the indictment says.

Meggs, Harrelson and Watkins additionally face expenses of destruction of presidency property as a result of harm executed on the Capitol constructing, in keeping with the indictment.

PREVIOUS DEFENDANTS

Three different Oath Keepers defendants – Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson – pleaded responsible this 12 months to partaking in seditious conspiracy in reference to the assault. They’re awaiting sentencing and will probably be known as as witnesses on the trial.