Oath Keepers Founder Convicted Of Seditious Conspiracy

Image copyright: independent

The Facts

  • On Tuesday, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to an alleged plot to conduct violence at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

  • Fellow Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy, while three other co-defendants – Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell, and Ken Harrelson – were acquitted but found guilty of other charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.


The Spin

Republican narrative

The DOJ has unsurprisingly painted a completely distorted picture of events. If heated, hyperbolic rhetoric amounts to sedition, most of modern America would find themselves charged. Discourse surrounding revolution is deep-rooted in the country's history and culture, and cherry-picking such sentences to claim that a major conspiracy was afoot shouldn't be taken seriously.

Democratic narrative

What happened at the US Capitol went well beyond the realm of political protest gone bad and instead was a coordinated violent attack that the Oath Keepers played a role in planning. The DOJ’s case and the jury’s verdict show that the government can and will hold the rioters accountable and reinforces the importance of the Jan. 6 House Committee's work.


Political split

LEFT

RIGHT

More neutral political stance articles