WASHINGTON—Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a federal court on Nov. 7 that he did not conspire to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rhodes, one of five defendants facing several criminal charges over their involvement in Jan. 6 events, testified that he found out that protestors breached the barricades at 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 6. At that time, he was at a hotel, Rhodes said, to warm up.
“We didn’t realize they [the protestors] were going inside,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes told the court he had no communications with co-defendant Jessica Watkins or other Oath Keepers who went into the Capitol. He didn’t know Thomas Caldwell, another co-defendant, was in Washington on Jan. 6.
“Did you encourage people to go to the Capitol?” questioned Kathryn Rakoczy, a prosecutor. Rhodes explained that Kelly Meggs, a defendant on trial, was already at the Capitol. He said Meggs and his team’s mission was to escort speakers from the Ellipse.
“You didn’t tell them to go away,” Rakoczy said. Rhodes explained that he was trying to gather the Oath Keepers in one location and not breach the Capitol. “I didn’t want them to get wrapped up in that crowd and get inside the Capitol,” he said.
The stage wasn’t set up when he arrived in the area where the speeches planned for the were supposed to happen. Rhodes learned that Roger Stone, one of the speakers, would not be giving his speech. Rhodes said he was concerned that Kelly Meggs and his team might have strayed “off mission.”
“There was no plan,” Rakoczy asked. Rhodes responded no.
Rhodes denied giving implied or direct instructions to storm the Capitol to any Oath Keeper. Rhodes added that in his open letters to former President Donald Trump, he did not mention any intention to storm the Capitol on January 6.
Rakoczy asked Rhodes if he congratulated the 20 Oath Keepers he eventually gathered for going inside the Capitol. “No,” Rhodes responded.
On Jan. 7, 2021, Rhodes’ former attorney, Kellye SoRelle, advised him to turn off his phone. After that, he confirmed that he sometimes used her phone to send messages. The government displayed messages in which Rhodes instructed Oath Keepers to delete any evidence from their devices. Rhodes said he told her to let the Oath Keepers know about their right to remain silent and that everything they said could be used against them. He denied typing those messages.
Rhodes testified that all the discussions about a civil war used “rhetorical and bombastic” language.
Since President-elect Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021, Rhodes said he stopped talking about the Insurrection Act since Trump couldn’t invoke it anymore.
The Oath Keepers’ organization mission was to defend the Constitution, provide security, and assist law enforcement, Rhodes told a defense attorney. He denied that the Oath Keepers’ mission on Jan. 6 was to enter the Capitol under the guise of protecting the people inside.
During cross-examination, Rakoczy tried to show how the Oath Keepers organization allegedly was created to oppose the U.S. government, linking connections with Alex Jones.
She also mentioned the Oath Keepers’ participation in an event in 2014. She highlighted multiple occasions where they attempted to deceive violent protesters by disguising themselves as elderly people or single parents so they might use their firearms if those allegedly disguised Oath Keepers were attacked. However, Rhodes denied having done that. She then displayed a receipt showing that Rhodes had purchased steel canes and pistol-grip walking canes. He told her that a former Oath Keepers members misunderstood their use. They were for self-defense, he said.
Rakoczy said the Oath Keepers had defended a salon that violated the government’s guidelines during the COVID-19. Rhodes explained that they provided security services after the Supreme Court allowed the salon to reopen; he added that the Oath Keepers were there to prevent arson.
Rakoczy asked Rhodes if the Oath Keepers’ so-called quick reaction force was to oppose the government and to defend Trump. Rhodes denied it and told her it was to protect the White House.
The prosecutor also questioned Rhodes about what he would expect to happen if President Trump invoke the Insurrection Act as Rhodes urged. Rhodes said that Trump could have exposed the 2020 presidential election as “unconstitutional.”
Rhodes has been charged with multiple crimes, including seditious conspiracy. If convicted, he risks spending over 20 years behind bars.
