Oath Keepers indictment suggests DOJ is sitting on searing Jan. 6 evidence
By Barbara McQuade
The most interesting aspect of the recent indictments of 11 people accused of involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on charges of seditious conspiracy isn’t who has been charged — but who might be charged next. The Justice Department unveiled a 48-page indictment Thursday accusing the 11 defendants of conspiring to oppose by force the government’s transition of presidential power, a jaw-dropping allegation under most circumstances.
But for all of us who watched the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, it seems like a fitting response. While this offense is rarely charged, the Justice Department didn’t flinch from using it in this case, which Attorney General Merrick Garland has called an “assault on democracy.” And it’s likely that prosecutors aren’t done yet.
The defendants are alleged to be members of the Oath Keepers, a group described in the indictment as “a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias.” The indictment says the Oath Keepers “explicitly focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel.” The leader of the group, Stewart Rhodes, is a former Army paratrooper and a Yale Law School graduate.
The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to thwart the election results before, during and after Jan. 6 by recruiting, training and organizing teams to oppose the transfer of power. They are accused of amassing an arsenal of weapons as part of their plot. On Jan. 6, members of the group arranged themselves in formations and entered the Capitol, the indictment says. Others served as an armed “Quick Response Team” off-site to provide reinforcements later after the initial teams had breached the Capitol, it says.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/oath-keeper-sedition-indictments-are-just-beginning-doj-n1287616
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