A verdict has been reached in the historic trial of the Oath Keepers accused of plotting to attack the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Follow here for live updates.
Michael Fanone, a former Washington, DC, police officer who was at the US Capitol during the insurrection, said he hopes the guilty verdicts for several members of the Oath Keepers is a “learning tool” for others to recognize the seriousness of the insurrection.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and fellow group member Kelly Meggs were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge. All five defendants were also convicted of obstructing an official proceeding.
“I think the verdict speaks for itself,” Fanone said. “The evidence that was put forth by the government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Stewart Rhodes and at least one of his conspirators engaged in a seditious conspiracy to overthrow the United States government by means of violence.”
He added that the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol did a good job making connections between former President Donald Trump and leaders of the Oath Keepers and other right-wing groups during its investigation and public hearings.
“So if I was the former president and many of his allies, I would be shaking in my boots seeing these verdicts coming down,” Fanone added.
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn thanked the Justice Department and jury for the verdicts in the historic trial of five alleged leaders of the right-wing militia group, the Oath Keepers.
Dunn was in the courtroom, sitting in the front row.
While the verdict was being read in the federal courtroom, the five defendants expressed little emotion.
All of them were convicted of at least one charge.
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers who was found guilty of the most serious seditious conspiracy charge, among others, had his head down, writing notes to one of his attorneys, Ed Tarpley.
Members of the prosecution congratulated each other after the jury had left. None of the prosecutors commented on the verdict.
One of the defendants, Thomas Caldwell, and his wife prayed together several times before entering the courtroom.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes has been acquitted, along with two other defendants, of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, which was the vote in Congress to certify the 2020 presidential election results on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the US Capitol.
The other two defendants were convicted of that charge.
