Sept. 27 (UPI) — Five members of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers will go on trial Tuesday facing the most serious charges connected with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Jury selection will begin in Washington, D.C. for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, along with Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell. They are charged with seditious conspiracy in plotting to obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election results in support of former President Donald Trump.
Federal prosecutors said their planning, communication, and coordination were critical in what turned out to be a riot in the Capitol building, disrupting the Electoral College vote to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an appointee by former President Barack Obama, will preside over the jury trial which is expected to last several weeks. Some 150 potential jurors are expected to be questioned before deciding on who will listen to the case.
The defendants are expected to argue that they prepared and acted in anticipation of Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, a Revolutionary-era law that grants the president wide powers to deploy the military to quash unrest in emergency situations.
Prosecutors are expected to counter by saying that the act does not allow any president to deputize private armed groups to restore law and order and that the defense was concocted by Stewart after the Jan. 6 riot to give his organization legal cover.
