The leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers group was ordered to serve 18 years in prison for his role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol and conspiring to use force to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
Stewart Rhodes, 58, was sentenced Thursday in Washington by US District Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled the actions of the group leader amounted to terrorism. Rhodes is one of 10 defendants convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021, including other Oath Keepers and leaders of the far-right Proud Boys who have yet to be sentenced.
The prison term imposed by Mehta was the longest handed down so far in the government’s prosecution of more than 1,000 people over the storming of the Capitol, which disrupted the certification of the election of Joe Biden as president. The riot involved assaults on 140 police officers and caused more than $2 million in property damage.
