Jacob Vaughn
Audio By Carbonatix
A federal judge has ruled that Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, will stay behind bars for the time being.
On Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said during a hearing that allowing Rhodes to spend the next several months under house arrest was too risky. “His ability to communicate and organize are his greatest weapons,” said Mehta, adding that the government could not be certain that Rhodes would not somehow access an internet connection or encrypted messaging apps while under house arrest.
Rhodes stands accused of five federal crimes, including one charge of seditious conspiracy, or plotting to overthrow the U.S. government by force.
The accusations stem from his alleged role as a key orchestrator of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot last year, during which supporters of former President Donald Trump, QAnon conspiracy theorists and hardline right-wing militiamen stormed the Capitol building while Congress was ratifying the results of the 2020 election, which Donald Trump lost.
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Federal agents arrested Rhodes at his home in North Texas on Jan. 13. Federal Judge Kimberly Johnson ruled in a Plano late last month that Rhodes should stay locked up before trial.
His ability to communicate and organize are his greatest weapons.” – Judge Amit P. Mehta
A few days later, Rhodes’ attorneys asked Mehta to reverse Johnson’s decision, claiming that his ongoing cooperation with law enforcement and striking physical appearance (Rhodes is heavy-set and wears an eyepatch to cover an accidentally self-inflicted gun injury) eliminated the risk that he would flee the U.S. before trial.
But Mehta said Friday that Rhodes was “still dangerous” and would pose an immediate threat to his community if released.
Mehta homed in on Rhodes’ call records and encrypted text messages to Oath Keepers members on the ground before and during the Jan. 6 attacks which the judge said constitute “circumstantial evidence” that Rhodes may have ordered Oath Keepers to breach the Capitol building, or that he was “at least aware of it.”
Rhodes video-called into Mehta’s courtroom in Washington via Zoom from Cimarron Federal Correctional Facility in Cushing, Oklahoms, but did not speak during the hearing.
The hearing was delayed by a power outage at the facility in Cushing earlier Friday, Rhodes’ attorney James Lee Bright told the Observer.
