Oath Keepers planned an armed rebellion, prosecutor tells jury in sedition case

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the far-right group tried to change history and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler told jurors hearing the first seditious conspiracy trial to result from the assault on the U.S. Capitol last year.

“They concocted a plan for an armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy,” Nestler said.

Using text messages, video and recorded calls, the Justice Department is trying to persuade the jury at a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., that the defendants set out to overturn the results of the 2020 election by storming the Capitol and interrupting the count of electoral votes.