Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and members of his antigovernment group will be the first Jan. 6 defendants sentenced for seditious conspiracy in a series of hearings beginning this week that will set the standard for more punishments of far-right extremists to follow.
Prosecutors will urge the judge on Thursday to put Rhodes behind bars for 25 years, which would be the harshest sentence by far handed down in the U.S. Capitol attack. Describing the Oath Keepers' actions as “terrorism," the Justice Department says stiff punishments are crucial to send a message to future possible instigators of political violence.
