Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, will have company in prison after he was convicted by a jury in late November of seditious conspiracy for the January 6th insurrection in a failed bid to overturn Trump's election loss. Kelly Meggs was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, too. And now, four more members of the militia group have been convicted of seditious conspiracy as well.
Via NBC News:
Prosecutors said the four defendants — Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, and Edward Vallejo — used a “perverted version of American history” to justify their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Attacking the Capitol was a means to an end,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday. He said the group took advantage of the riot and seized the opportunity to fulfill their goal of preventing Congress from counting the electoral votes and confirming Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
“January 6 was just a battle. The full conspiracy was to stop the transfer of power,” Manzo said.
Prosecutors said Vallejo was staged at a Virginia hotel with a stockpile of rifles — which they have called a "Quick Reaction Force" — while Hackett, Moerschel and Minuta led groups to breach the Capitol building.
The trial, which started Dec. 12, included testimony from Brian Ulrich, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Georgia chapter who had pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. Ulrich testified that he took part in the storming of the Capitol because he wanted to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes.
“There’s no other reason to go in that building at that point,” Ulrich said.
Manzo also pointed jurors to clips from a selfie-style video of Minuta, filmed in what appears to be his car. In the video, a furious Minuta yells about fake ballots, complains that Congress hasn’t done enough about the problem, and said children would become "slaves" if people don't act.
“Millions will die,” Minuta said in another clip from the same video. “So what. So what…. I’m not afraid and I’m ready to f---ing go.”
Watch:
These idiots literally filmed themselves committing a crime. Ooof! The Oath Keepers started as a response to the election of our country's first Black President.
