DOJ charges Oath Keepers founder, 10 others with seditious conspiracy related to Jan. 6 riot

The move marks the first set of charges echoing claims of an insurrection

On Jan. 6, 2021, after then-President Trump had repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election had been stolen from him, thousands of his supporters left his rally at Freedom Plaza near the White House and headed toward the Capitol. Lawmakers evacuated the complex and temporarily suspended the certification of the Electoral College results as rioters broke through police lines and entered the building.

The Department of Justice unveiled seditious conspiracy charges against 11 defendants, including the founder and leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, for their role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

These charges will never stick. Rhodes didn’t have an army, there was no sedition or insurrection, this was a protest allowed under the Declaration of Independence.