OathKeepers Charged With Seditious Conspiracy.

A steady refrain from Trumpers has been that “if it was sedition why has no one been charged with sedition.” As of today they have.

The FBI today arrested OathKeepers leader Stewart Rhodes, charging him and ten other Oath Keepers with sedition conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2384. You can read the charging document HERE. The charge carries with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The conspiracy was to “stop the lawful transfer of presidential power” and they “planned to use the firearms in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power.” The complaint makes clear that they viewed their act as revolution, that they compared it to the recent seizing of the Serbian Parliament, and that violence was always in their plan.

Rhodes was on the grounds but did not enter the Capitol. However, he is accused of entering restricted areas of the Capitol grounds and directing the assault on the Capitol by his followers.

Force is an essential element of the sedition statute. The government must prove the defendants conspired to:

“to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States.”