Assault on the Capitol: arrest of the leader of the Oath Keepers, an influential far-right militia

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, Stewart Rhodes.

AP - Susan Walsh

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The US Department of Justice announces the arrest of the leader and founder of the Oath Keepers for his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Stewart Rhodes and 10 other members of this far-right militia have been charged with sedition by a grand jury.

This is the most serious charge to date against a 6 January protester, punishable by 20 years in prison.

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With our correspondent in Miami,

American justice accuses Stewart Rhodes of having tried "to prevent the peaceful transfer of power" between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

She also accuses him of having organized the transport of demonstrators from all over the country to Washington with the means of the Oath Keepers, his far-right militia on the front line during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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This paramilitary group he created in 2009 claims several thousand members across the United States.

And the Oath Keepers have always acted in full light, like during the Black Lives Matter riots in Ferguson in 2015 when some of their gunmen came to patrol the streets to protect businesses.

From 2016, the Oath Keepers also provided security for certain meetings of Donald Trump, which they have sworn to support until the end.

A former paratrooper, but also a lawyer who graduated from Yale University, Rhodes defines himself as an anti-government libertarian.

On the site of his group, the day before January 6, he had called on all patriots to gather in the capital for a security mission and to stand up in support of Donald Trump. 

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• United States

• Justice

• Donald trump