As indignant supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, able to smash by means of home windows and beat cops, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes extolled them as patriots and harkened again to the battle that kicked off the American Revolutionary War.
“Next comes our ‘Lexington,’ ” Rhodes advised his fellow far-right extremists in a message on Jan. 6, 2021. “It’s coming.”
Jurors will start weighing his phrases and actions on Tuesday, after almost two months of testimony and argument within the legal trial of Rhodes and 4 co-defendants. Final protection arguments wrapped up late Monday.
The jury will weigh the costs that the Oath Keepers weren’t whipped into an impulsive frenzy by Trump on Jan. 6 however got here to Washington intent on stopping the switch of presidential energy in any respect prices.
The riot was the chance they’d been getting ready for, prosecutors say. Rhodes’ followers sprang into motion, marching to the Capitol, becoming a member of the gang pushing into the constructing, and trying to overturn the election that was sending Joe Biden to the White House instead of Trump, authorities allege.
Not true, the Oath Keepers argue. They say there was by no means any plot, that prosecutors have twisted their admittedly bombastic phrases and given jurors a deceptive timeline of occasions and messages.
Hundreds of individuals have been convicted within the assault that left dozens of officers injured, despatched lawmakers operating for his or her lives and shook the foundations of American democracy. Now jurors within the case towards Rhodes and 4 associates will resolve, for the primary time, whether or not the actions of any Jan. 6 defendants quantity to seditious conspiracy — a hardly ever used cost that carries each vital jail time and political weight.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”