Oath Keepers Founder Is Charged: With Organizing The January 6 Riot – Why Does He Wear An Eyepatch?

They are accused of planning and carrying out the insurrection to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

The seditious conspiracy charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Rhodes, a former US Army paratrooper, is known for his eye patch – worn since he was 28.

A former firearms instructor, he dropped a loaded handgun and it shot him in the face, blinding him in his left eye.

He is the highest-ranking member of an extremist group to be arrested in the deadly siege and it is the first time the Justice Department has brought a seditious conspiracy charge in connection with the Capitol riots.

The bar for proving sedition is not as high as it is for the related charge of treason. Still, sedition charges have been rare and are difficult to win.

In all, 19 members of associates of the Oath Keepers faces charges of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding by traveling to Washington intent on stopping lawmakers from declaring Biden the election winner.

Rhodes and Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested on Thursday.

The others who were charged were already facing criminal charges related to the attack.

Those include Thomas Caldwell, 67, of Berryville, Virginia; Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Florida; Kenneth Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida; Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama; Kelly Meggs, 52, of Dunnellon, Florida; Roberto Minuta, 37, of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel, 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida; Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia and Jessica Watkins, 39, of Woodstock, Ohio.

Prosecutors said Caldwell sent a text message to someone believed to be affiliated with the Three Percenters, an anti-government movement, on January 3 about the possibility of sending weapons across the river.

‘How many people either in the militia or not (who are still supportive of our efforts to save the Republic) have a boat on a trailer that could handle a Potomac crossing?’ Caldwell wrote, according to prosecutors.

‘If we had someone standing by at a dock ramp (one near the Pentagon for sure) we could have our Quick Response Team with the heavy weapons standing by, quickly load them and ferry them across the river to our waiting arms.’

Hackett’s wife Deena hosts the ‘Battle Cry’ podcast, which includes mentions of far-right conspiracy theories, including the unproven QAnon belief that Democrats are engaged in child sex trafficking and stands by the insurrection.

In the since-deleted podcast, Deena complained that former president Donald Trump and ‘the so-called Republicans’ were not working hard enough to help those arrested in connection to the attack on the Capitol.

‘The Americans who have fought for this country … we are now terrorists,’ Deena said.

She did make an exception for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene saying, ‘love her,’ according to The Washington Post.

Aside from her part-time gig as a podcast co-host, Deena is a Florida Licensed Acupuncture Physician and the owner of 941 Wellness, a holistic body alignment center.

According to the indictment, Hackett paid for a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, DC, from January 5-7, 2021.

It alleges Hackett and several others ‘prepared themselves for battle before heading to the Capitol by equipping themselves with communication devices and donning reinforced vests, helmets, and goggles.’

The group reportedly broke into the Capitol building at 2:28 pm with Hackett leaving at 2:54 pm, according to ABC 7.

Another Florida man, Kenneth Harrelson, 41, was first indicted in February last year by a grand jury and arrested in Florida in March.

The probable cause affidavit for charging Harrelson at the time named him as a co-conspirator along with other members seen in a ‘stack’ formation near the Capitol, dressed in tan and camouflage tactical gear adorned with Oath Keeper insignia.

Alabama-based Joshua James, who owns cleaning company America Pro Hydro Services, and was in Washington wearing an Oath Keepers baseball cap and a black long-sleeve top with an Oath Keepers patch on the sleeve.

Photos of the pre-riot rally showed James and other Oath Keepers providing security ‘to a speaker at the ‘Stop the Steal’ events planned for that day,’ according to the criminal complaint.

Kelly Meggs attended the riot with his wife, Connie, and he was found to have coordinated in advance with members of the Proud Boys.

In a December 22 Facebook message, Meggs discussed the Oath Keepers having 50 to 100 members in Washington, D.C., on January 6.

‘Plus we have made contact with PB and they always have a big group. Force multiplier,’ Meggs wrote

Three days later, on Christmas, Meggs messaged again with a person he urged to come to Washington, providing what prosecutors call a ‘provisions list’ of armor and non-gun weapons to bring.

He also described a more detailed attack plan with the Proud Boys, who call themselves a fraternal group promoting ‘anti-political correctness’ and ‘anti-white guilt.’

‘You can hang with us we will probably be guarding [redacted] or someone during the day but then at night we have orchestrated a plan with the proud boys,’ Meggs wrote, an excerpt from the Facebook messages said.

‘I’ve been communicating with [redacted] the leader. We are going to march with them for awhile then fall back to the back of the crowd and turn off,’ Meggs wrote.

‘Then we will have the proud boys get in front of them … we will come in behind antifa and beat the hell out of them.’

On January 4, the couple sued the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, saying that the subpoena issued by the committee for cell phone records will prejudice the Jan. 6-related criminal conspiracy case against them.

‘The Select Committee’s Subpoena invades the privacy of a U.S. citizen, worse than what occurred under the British Crown, Congress itself abrogated those rights and shielded telecommunications users like the Plaintiff from the piercing of the privacy of their communications by its own statutes,’ the lawsuit says.

‘Allowing an entirely partisan select committee of Congress to subpoena the personal mobile phone data of Mrs. Meggs and her husband, alleged members of the Oath Keepers, an organization that was merely a supporter of President Trump’s and not listed ‘terrorist’ seeks to work a massive chilling of current and future activists’ associational and free speech rights,’ the complaint says.

‘What if the opposite were to happen to ‘Black Lives Matter’ activists during a Republican majority? Without limit to date range or geography or persons?

‘There would be no one to challenge power, and the First Amendment would effectively be speech sponsored by the government and major corporations.’

Robert Minuta was, along with Joshua James, seen acting as a ‘boddyguard’ for Trump ally Roger Stone.

In response to a call for individuals to storm the Capitol after it had been breached, Minuta and James drove to the Capitol with others in a pair of golf carts.

During this time, they swerved ‘around law enforcement vehicles’ with Minuta allegedly asserting: ‘Patriots are storming the Capitol… so we’re en route in a grand theft auto golf cart to the Capitol building right now… it’s going down guys; it’s literally going down right now Patriots storming the Capitol building…’

Once at the Capitol, Minuta aggressively berated and taunted officers who were guarding the perimeter of the Capitol near the East side of the building, the indictment states.

The pair forcibly entered the building through the east side Rotunda doors at around 3.15pm, which is the same access point their co-conspirators had entered from.

According to the indictment, Minuta wore hard-knuckle tactical gloves, ballistic goggles, a radio with an earpiece and bear spray.

As Minuta exited the building at 3.19pm, he was seen on video yelling at an officer: ‘All that’s left is the Second Amendment.’

David Moerschel was caught on camera before the riot wheeling a cart with at least one long gun case onto an elevator at a hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

The FBI also says it secured encrypted messages, an account linked to Moerschel attending 17 Oath Keeper-affiliated meetings.

Another image identifies Moerschel inside the Capitol next to Graydon Young, a man from Englewood who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the FBI.

Brian Ulrich, from Georgia, also joined in planning the attack.

He too has been previously indicted.

The only woman among the group was Jessica Watkins, a 39-year-old bartender from Ohio.

Watkins, a transgender woman, has been detained since mid-January 2021.

Court filings revealed that Watkins is claiming she was only in D.C. on January 6 to help with security for speakers at the Trump rally that took place right before the Capitol storming.

She is also claiming the United States Secret Service was aware of her assisting in security efforts near the White House that day.

Prosecutors allege Watkins, an Afghanistan war veteran, entered the Capitol building illegally.

Her attorney appears to acknowledge this fact in a petition filed Saturday claiming that ‘Ms. Watkins did not engage in any violence or force at the Capitol grounds or in the Capitol.’

Jonathan Moseley, an attorney representing Rhodes, described his client’s indictment and arrest as ‘an unusual situation.’

Moseley said Rhodes was supposed to testify before the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection in a deposition but it got called off.

He was talking to Rhodes on the phone about the committee when Rhodes was contacted by the FBI.

Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building on January 6 but is accused of helping put into motion the violence that disrupted the certification of the vote.

The Oath Keepers case is the largest conspiracy case federal authorities have brought so far over January 6, when thousands of pro-Trump rioters stormed past police barriers and smashed windows, injuring dozens of officers and sending lawmakers running.

The indictment alleges that, after the election, Rhodes conspired with his co-defendants and others ‘to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power by Jan. 20, 2021.’

Authorities say Rhodes held a GoToMeeting call days after the election, telling his followers to go to Washington and let Trump know ‘that the people are behind him.’

Rhodes told members they should be prepared to fight Antifa and that some Oath Keepers should ‘stay on the outside’ and be ‘prepared to go in armed’ if necessary.

‘We’re going to defend the president, the duly elected president, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country.

‘Because if you don’t, guys, you’re going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war, and a bloody – you can call it an insurrection or you can call it a war or fight,’ Rhodes said, according to court documents.

Authorities have said Rhodes was part of an encrypted Signal chat with Oath Keepers from multiple states leading up to January 6 called ‘DC OP: Jan 6 21’ and it showed the group was ‘activating a plan to use force’ that day.

Beginning in December 2020, Rhodes and his fellow militiamen allegedly used encrypted and private communications apps to coordinate and plan to travel to Washington DC on January 6, the date of the certification of the electoral college vote.

Federal authorities claimed that Rhodes and several others planned to bring weapons and ammunition with them.

According to the indictment, the defendants carried out the conspiracy by organizing into teams, recruiting additional members, hosting training sessions to teach paramilitary combat tactics, bringing tactical gear and weapons, including knives and batons, to the Capitol grounds.

Days before the attack, one defendant suggested in a text message getting a boat to ferry weapons across the Potomac River to their ‘waiting arms,’ prosecutors say.

The suspects’ efforts culminated with them ‘breaching and attempting to take control of the Capitol grounds and building on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent, hinder and delay the certification of the electoral college vote,’ according to the US Department of Justice.

The indictment alleges that after the failed insurrection, the Oath Keepers and their affiliates continued the thwarted plot by using social media, text messaging and encrypted apps to communicate with co-conspirators.

Rhodes has said in interviews with right-wing hosts that there was no plan to storm the Capitol and that the members who did so went rogue.

But he has continued to push the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, while posts on the Oath Keepers website have depicted the group as a victim of political persecution.

On January 6, a large crowd began to gather outside the Capitol perimeter as the Joint Session of Congress got under way at 1pm following a fiery speech by then-President Donald Trump.

That afternoon, authorities say Rhodes told the group over Signal: ‘All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything.

‘So the patriots are taking it into their own hands.

‘They’ve had enough.’

Crowd members eventually forced their way through, up and over US Capitol Police barricades and advanced to the building’s exterior façade, according to the Justice Department.

Shortly after 2pm, rioters forced their way inside the Capitol by breaking windows, ramming open doors, and assaulting Capitol police and other law enforcement officers.

Around 2.30pm, Rhodes had a 97-second phone call with Kelly Meggs, the reputed leader of the group’s Florida chapter, who was part of the military-style stack, authorities say.

About 10 minutes later, Rhodes sent a photo to the group showing the southeast side of the Capitol with the caption, ‘South side of US Capitol.

‘Patriots pounding on doors.’

Around that same time, those in the stack formation forcibly entered the Capitol, prosecutors say.

At about this time, according to the indictment, Rhodes entered the restricted area of the Capitol grounds and directed his followers to meet him at the Capitol.

Some 30 minutes later, as detailed in the indictment, a group of Oath Keepers – many wearing paramilitary clothing and patches with the militia’s name, logo, and insignia – were photographed marching in a ‘stack’ formation up the east steps of the Capitol, joining a mob, and making their way inside.

Later, another detachment of Oath Keepers formed a second ‘stack’ and breached the Capitol grounds, marching from the west side to the east side of the Capitol building and up the east stairs and into the building, documents alleged.

While some Oath Keepers stormed the building, others remained stationed just outside of the city in quick reaction force, which, according to the indictment, ‘were prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of operations aimed at using force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power.’

Oath Keeper defendants have argued in court that the only plan was to provide security at the rally before the riot or protect themselves against possible attacks from far-left Antifa activists.

Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, started the Oath Keepers in 2009, and the group has grown into one of the nation’s largest anti-government militias, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In 2014, Oath Keeper members joined an armed standoff between federal officials and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy over grazing rights on government land.

Later that year and in 2015, members patrolled the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, amid protests over the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown. They wore camouflage body armor and openly carried rifles.

The Oath Keepers and members of other extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys, make up just part of the more than 580 people who have been charged in the January 6 riot.

But several of their leaders, members and associates have become the central targets of the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation as authorities work to determine to what extent the attack was plotted in advance.

The last time U.S. prosecutors brought a seditious conspiracy case was in 2010 in an alleged Michigan plot by members of the Hutaree militia to incite an uprising against the government.

But a judge ordered acquittals on the sedition conspiracy charges at a 2012 trial, saying prosecutors relied too much on hateful diatribes protected by the First Amendment and didn’t, as required, prove the accused ever had detailed plans for a rebellion.

Among the last successful convictions for seditious conspiracy stemmed from another, now largely forgotten storming of the Capitol in 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on the House floor, wounding five representatives.