Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is facing 18 years behind bars after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, is sending a stark warning to former President Trump, telling him that his trial is the blueprint for Special Counsel Jack Smith to convict him.
Many believe that Rhodes is being railroaded into prison as an example to other Americans to stay in line. The Oath Keepers leader graduated from Yale Law School and he’s a former Army paratrooper. He founded the militia group in 2009.
Rhodes claims that the federal government is planning to turn Trump’s inner circle against him and scare off potential witnesses who would defend the former president.
“They’re going to do the same thing to President Trump that they did to me,” Rhodes told The Washington Times in an interview from the DC Department of Corrections Central Detention Facility where he is being kept in isolation.
Calling from prison, Oathkeepers leader Stewart Rhodes predicts Trump will be indicted for J6, and lists the 4 charges he thinks he will be hit with. pic.twitter.com/W8eXnQYiLm
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 12, 2023
“You’re going to get railroaded. You’re going to be found guilty if you try to go to trial. So everyone’s been demoralized and more likely to take a plea deal and agree to ‘test-a-lie’ against President Trump,” Rhodes further warned.
He claims that during his trial that prosecutors used his words, not his actions, to convict him of seditious conspiracy. The charge is just one step below treason.
“I didn’t enter the Capitol, but I was still found guilty by a DC jury of obstructing an official proceeding even though I didn’t even go inside,” the militia leader pointed out. “And I was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, although they had zero evidence of an actual plan. They just used my speech. It will be the same thing with President Trump.”
Rhodes claims that members of the Oath Keepers were pressured by prosecutors to testify against him and four others. Those four members were convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to prison terms of 36 to 54 months.
Anyone can see these democrats are out to silence the opposition
They are against free speech and the rule of law— Tom Clinton (@hammershark1207) June 12, 2023
“They threatened [witnesses] with life in prison,” Rhodes recounted. “That’s what’s going to happen to President Trump.”
He went on to predict that the former president would face a left-leaning judge and jury in DC just as the other convicted Jan. 6 defendants did.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related to his retention of government documents, including wilful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was charged in Florida. Rhodes is claiming that Trump will also be charged over Jan. 6 in DC.
Smith is also investigating Trump for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results as well as his role in the riot at the Capitol which he has not been charged over. According to The Washington Times, Smith is thought to be quietly working with a grand jury in DC.
Two tiered justice
— David (@4AugustWest) June 12, 2023
The 32-page complaint against Rhodes filed in federal court in DC reads, “As part of this unified plan to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes, defendants Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, through their leadership, acted in concert to spearhead the assault on the Capitol while the angry mob that defendants Trump and Giuliani incited descended on the Capitol.”
“The carefully orchestrated series of events that unfolded at the ‘Save America’ rally and the storming of the Capitol was no accident or coincidence. It was the intended and foreseeable culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the Electoral College,” the lawsuit asserts.
“The narrative has been set,” Rhodes said about the cases that US District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta has ruled over. “The civil cases are the obvious narrative setting and the precursor to the criminal cases. The criminal cases are only meant to make it all true.”
Other Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes believes Smith is working to turn Trump’s inner circle against him to silence potential witnesses who could exonerate the former president. “They’re going to do the same thing to President Trump that they did to me,” said Rhodes.
— Stan Lipowski (@stalip77) July 5, 2023
Sources familiar with Smith’s efforts have told The Independent that he is also prepared to bring what is known as a “superseding indictment,” which is a second set of charges against an already-indicted defendant that could include more serious crimes. His team has made preparations to add an “additional 30 to 45 charges” in addition to the 37-count indictment brought against Trump in June, either in a superseding indictment in the same Florida court or in a different federal judicial district.
Rhodes has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, which will be followed by three years of supervised release. He received the longest sentence handed down for the assault on the Capitol. Currently, he is seeking to appeal his conviction.
His attorney tells @CBSNews Stewart Rhodes is working on an appeal to his seditious conspiracy criminal case. Expected to take months to fully prepare the appeal. Notification has already been filed in DC federal court pic.twitter.com/uig2DSleBL
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 24, 2023
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