After the second major trial accusing far-right extremists of plotting to forcibly keep the former US president in power, four members of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in relation to the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters.
A few weeks after a different jury found the group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes, guilty in the mob’s attack that prevented the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a different jury found Joseph Hackett of Sarasota, Florida, Roberto Minuta of Prosper, Texas, David Moerschel of Punta Gorda, Florida, and Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, Arizona, guilty.
Also Check
- Suspect Shot And Killed By Neighbor While Trying To Break Into Northwest Houston Home, Police Say
- Sen. Ron Johnson Speaks Out About Handling of Hunter Biden Controversy
The convictions were a significant win for the Department of Justice, which is currently pursuing sedition charges against the former head of the violent, hard-right group of all-male nationalists known as the Proud Boys and four of his colleagues. In Washington, DC, the trial against Enrique Tarrio and his lieutenants began earlier this month and is scheduled to go on for a number of weeks.
They represent some of the most serious cases that have been brought up to this point in the extensive inquiry into the Capitol attack, which is still expanding two years after the incident. The number of cases the justice department has filed is approaching 1,000, and it is growing each week.
Defense attorneys said that the Oath Keepers came to Washington to provide security at events before to the violence and downplayed violent statements as just hyperbole.
They took advantage of the prosecution’s lack of proof that the Oath Keepers had a specific plan to storm the Capitol prior to January 6 and told the jury that the radicals who attacked the building behaved spontaneously like thousands of other protesters.
In 2009, Rhodes established the Oath Keepers, a group of first responders, and law enforcement officials, including active-duty and retired military personnel.
Four members of the far right Oath Keepers group were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to keep Donald Trump in power by force on January 6th: pic.twitter.com/OWpR1QsjLT
— The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC 📺 (@TheBeatWithAri) January 23, 2023
Members have appeared at political gatherings and protests, frequently armed to the teeth, including those in response to the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd in May 2020. Â Kindly visit our Digitalnewsexpert.com if you require any additional information.
