WASHINGTON (CN) — Far-right militia leader Stewart Rhodes has been arrested and charged for his involvement in last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
Rhodes, 56, is one of 11 people charged with seditious conspiracy by a federal grand jury on Wednesday. He was arrested Thursday morning in Little Elm, Texas.
A former U.S. paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate, Rhodes is the founder and highest-ranking member of the Oath Keepers.
The U.S. Department of Justice defines the Oath Keepers as “a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias.”
The group allows anyone to become an “associate,” but explicitly focuses on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel, according to a spokesperson for the Justice Department.
Federal prosecutors says Rhodes conspired with other members of the far-right group in a failed effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
More than 725 people have been arrested in nearly every state on federal charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The indictments unsealed on Thursday mark the first time that any of the pro-Trump rioters have been charged with seditious conspiracy.
As sweeping investigations into the Capitol riot have continued, many Republican lawmakers have downplayed the significance and severity of the attack, with several basing their opinion on a lack of sedition charges.
According to prosecutors, Oath Keepers planned ahead of the Jan. 6 attack by stockpiling weapons and combat gear and preparing extensively for violent interactions.
The indictment says that, while some members of the group breached the U.S. Capitol, others strategically waited outside in order to move more weapons into the building if needed.
Rhodes first gained large-scale publicity when he called on the Oath Keepers to monitor polling stations during the 2016 presidential election and discussed the plan in several media appearances.
Two days after the November 2020 presidential election, Rhodes sent a text in an encrypted group chat that urged his followers to refuse to accept the results.
“We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” he wrote.
It is one of many communications between Oath Keepers members that the FBI and Justice Department laid out as evidence of conspiracy.
Counsel for Rhodes could not immediately be reached for comment.
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