Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Kellye SoRelle, the group’s legal counsel, appear to have been sharing more than just an ideology.
Federal prosecutors revealed during the Oath Keepers’ trial on Monday that Mr Rhodes and Ms SoRelle had been exchanging text messages that suggest the two were involved in a romantic relationship.
"Speaking of f****** … if you need some come on over," Mr Rhodes texted the attorney in the days before the Capitol riot.
Ms SoRelle said she could not, but Mr Rhodes insisted that he would "drag [her] into bed later”.
Despite initially turning Mr Rhodes down, Ms SoRelle later sends him a text suggesting she was amenable to his advances.
"That’s how I know you’re trouble. You’re too good at what you do," she wrote. "Whole bad boy thing. I am a damn moth to a [flame emoji.]"
Ms SoRelle and Mr Rhodes were both previously married, but those relations both appear to be estranged.
Mr Rhodes and four other people tied to the far-right, anti-government militia group are facing seditious conspiracy charges stemming from their involvement in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.
Ms SoRelle has been separately charged for conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice and misdemeanor entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Prosecutors have not charged her with seditious conspiracy.
