Photograph Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Each day Beast/Getty
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes did his greatest to wipe his arms of the violent catastrophe that was Jan. 6, 2021, on Monday, claiming on the witness stand that “it was silly” of his allies to storm the Capitol. He additionally went on a weird tangent about his alleged romantic escapades.
Regardless of her steadfast indications on the contrary, Rhodes claimed in federal court docket that he was concerned in a romantic relationship with Kellye SoRelle, the previous normal counsel for his far-right militia group.
“We have been courting,” Rhodes instructed D.C. federal court docket jurors presiding over a case by which he and others are accused of seditious conspiracy—a Civil Battle-era cost related to their alleged planning earlier than the riot.
Rhodes made the declare when he was requested throughout cross-examination whether or not he had sufficient management over the lawyer to get her to remain silent in regards to the Oath Keepers’ function within the riots. The militia founder smiled earlier than answering: “Do we've to get into kink, actually?”
“Outdoors the bed room, she’s positively a kind A. Contained in the bed room, she positively switches to a sub,” he instructed Assistant U.S. Legal professional Kathryn Rakoczy.
The declare got here hours into Rhodes’ time on the stand, throughout which he supplied certainly one of his strongest denials but of involvement within the rebellion.
“I feel it was silly to enter the Capitol. One, as a result of it wasn’t our mission,” Rhodes stated. “And two, it opened the door for our political enemies to persecute us. And that’s what occurred and right here we're.”
Rhodes claimed that greater than 100 members of his far-right militia group went to the nation’s Capitol merely to offer safety for Jan. 6 rally-goers and audio system. However as soon as the riots started, a number of Oath Keeper members went “off-mission” and breached the Capitol, disrupting the electoral certification of President Joe Biden, he stated.
“I didn’t need them getting wrapped up into all of the nonsense with Trump supporters,” Rhodes insisted on Monday. “My objective was to ensure that nobody obtained wrapped up in that Charlie Foxtrot happening contained in the Capitol.”
Prosecutors, nonetheless, allege that Rhodes and 4 different militia members spent months coaching and planning “an armed rise up to shatter a bedrock of American democracy” in an try and cease the certification of Biden’s win over Donald Trump within the 2020 election. Whereas Rhodes didn't enter the constructing, prosecutors allege that he directed his group from afar like a “normal” as they stormed the Capitol. To show their argument, jurors have been proven surveillance footage and textual content messages that allegedly present the lengths Oath Keepers went to with a view to execute their mission.
Final week, jurors additionally noticed a recording of Rhodes 4 days after the riot—by which he's heard saying his solely remorse was not bringing rifles to the Capitol.
“We may have mounted it proper then and there. I’d cling fuckin’ Pelosi from the lamppost,” Rhodes stated. (On Monday, Rhodes stated he made that remark after a “couple of drinks at dinner.”)
On the stand Monday, Rhodes instructed jurors that he spent the morning of the riots at a lodge—and solely went to the Capitol when he discovered of the information that the barricades to the federal government constructing had been breached by rioters. He stated that “it by no means crossed” his thoughts that Oath Keepers had entered the Capitol and insisted that he by no means urged that anybody ought to go disrupt the electoral certification. Rhodes claimed that it wasn’t till later that night that he discovered his rogue group had stormed the Capitol, and he instantly voiced his considerations with their actions.
“It was not our mission that day to enter the Capitol for any purpose,” he added below cross-examination.
“I feel that anybody who assaults a police officer ought to be prosecuted,” Rhodes stated about what he referred to as the “horrific” occasions on the Capitol. “We now have a fully zero tolerance for somebody placing arms on a police officer."
Rhodes and his fellow alleged co-conspirators—Kelly Meggs, a pacesetter of the Florida Oath Keepers chapter; Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer; member Kenneth Harrelson; and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group—have pleaded not responsible.
Throughout cross-examination, prosecutors grilled Rhodes about his earlier characterization of the group he based round 2009. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Kathryn Rakoczy additionally confirmed jurors movies of Rhodes with far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and photographs of different Oath Keepers performing menacingly at numerous social justice protests.
“With martial arts coaching I may use nearly something” as a weapon, Rhodes admitted on the stand at one level. Later, he conceded that he’d urged his followers “to not acknowledge Biden because the authentic winner” of the 2020 election—claims that spurred the Jan. 6 assault, prosecutors allege.
When Rhodes later argued that he was not conscious of what a few of the different Oath Keepers have been planning in a bunch chat, Rakoczy identified that he was the group’s chairman.
“Sir, the buck stops with you on this group, proper?” the prosecutor added, to which Rhodes insisted he was not liable for members who go off mission.
“Effectively that’s handy,” Rakoczy retorted.