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☆ Convicted Oath Keeper's attorney says it's 'ridiculous' prosecutors appealed for a harsher sentence and that the feds should 'channel their inner Elsa and just let it go'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A lawyer for a convicted Oath Keeper slammed the DOJ for appealing his client's sentence. Prosecutors requested a 10-year sentence for David Moerschel; he was ultimately sentenced to three. "I wish they would channel their inner Elsa and just let it go." "Typical DOJ, they got their pound of flesh and still want more," Scott Weinberg, who represents David Moerschel, told Insider. The defendants whose sentences the DOJ appealed are Moerschel, Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, and Edward Vallejo.

Persons: David Moerschel, Elsa, Scott Weinberg, Donald Trump, Moerschel, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, Edward Vallejo, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Robert Mueller Organizations: Prosecutors, Service, Justice Department, Capitol, DOJ Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Prosecutors are 'sending a message' by asking for harsher sentences for Oath Keepers defendants: DOJ official
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The DOJ wants harsher sentences for eight Oath Keepers members convicted over the Capitol riot. One department official told Insider the DOJ is "really sending a message" by appealing the 8 defendants' sentences. "It's very unusual for DOJ to appeal, but these are unusual cases and unusual times," said the Justice Department official, who requested anonymity to speak about the cases. The DOJ appeal filing didn't include details laying out prosecutors' reasoning; the department official told Insider those details will be laid out in court later. "Typical DOJ, they got their pound of flesh and still want more," Moerschel's lawyer Scott Weinberg told Insider.

Persons: it's, Andrew Weissmann, Robert Mueller's, Weissmann, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Amit Mehta, Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, Edward Vallejo, David Moerschel, It's, Moerschel, Scott Weinberg, Elsa, Weinberg, William Shipley, Minuta, Meggs, Harrelson, Watkins, Hackett, Vallejo Organizations: DOJ, Capitol, Service, Department, Justice Department, Organization Locations: Wall, Silicon, Robert Mueller's Russia

Proud Boys former leader, Enrique Tarrio, and 3 others were found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Thursday. Seditious conspiracy is when people conspire to overthrow, put down, or destroy the government. Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl were all found guilty of seditious conspiracy as well as charges of conspiracy to obstruct Congress. But, the prosecutors succeeded, and the four convicted Proud Boys members could face up to 20 years in prison. The jury is still split about seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges against a fifth Proud Boys member, Dominic Pezzola, according to NBC News.

☆ Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio's lawyer blames Trump for January 6, says the ex-president 'unleashed this mob on the Capitol'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An attorney for Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio blamed Trump for the January 6 riot. "You will never see a message from Enrique Tarrio advocating to storm the Capitol," Jauregui said. In his opening statements, Jauregui also defended the Proud Boys, an organization founded in 2016 that calls itself "Western-chauvinist." Watchdog groups have labeled the Proud Boys as extremist and a hate group. "The Proud Boys think that America is the best."

☆ Proud Boys 'did not stand back' as Trump once said but 'mobilized' on January 6, prosecutor argues in trial opening
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The trial of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members opened Thursday. "Make no mistake…," read one text from Tarrio sent at 2:40 p.m. after rioters broke into the Capitol, according to prosecutors. "I'm proud as fuck at what we accomplished yesterday," read one message from Biggs, according to prosecutors. The DOJ also invoked comments made by Trump during a September 29, 2020, presidential debate, telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" when he was pushed to condemn white supremacists and militia groups. "When it became clear that Donald Trump would be voted out of office," McCullough said Thursday, "these men did not stand back, they did not stand by, instead, they mobilized."

☆ The Oath Keepers promised to defend liberty — and ended up trying to overthrow American democracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009, pledging to stand up to tyranny. The Oath Keepers, to be sure, are not to be confused with a charming but a little bit problematic ex. A look at the list of 10 orders the Oath Keepers insisted its members — cops and soldiers — would not carry out reveals as much. Thanks to the magic of the Internet Archive, however, we can see just how they were received on the Oath Keepers' website at the time. But there is, in my take, nothing different about the underlying threat that Oath Keepers posed from day one."

☆ Oath Keepers founder's estranged wife 'beyond happy' for his Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy conviction: 'I am thrilled that he's finally facing justice.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Ashley Collman | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy on Tuesday. Rhodes' estranged wife told Insider she was happy with the conviction. "I am beyond happy," Adams told Insider. On top of their seditious conspiracy convictions, Rhodes and Meggs were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. When examining the case against members of the Proud Boys who were also charged with seditious conspiracy, McDaniel said they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

☆ What is the potential penalty if someone is convicted of 'seditious conspiracy'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes and member Kelly Meggs were found guilty Tuesday of seditious conspiracy. Seditious conspiracy is when people conspire to overthrow, put down, or destroy the government. Seditious conspiracy, sometimes referred to as "sedition," is a law that first originated in 1789 to prosecute speech critical of the government. In order for the Proud Boys to be convicted of the seditious conspiracy charges, McDaniels said, four elements have to be proven in court. While McDaniels said he believes the case of the Proud Boys attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6 is a textbook case of seditious conspiracy, proving all four of those elements will likely be a challenge for prosecutors.

☆ Guilty: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in the most significant January 6 case yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A jury found Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes guilty of engaging in a seditious conspiracy. Three other members of the far-right group were found not guilty of joining in that conspiracy. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Kelly Meggs, another member of the Oath Keepers. "Now, going forward, there are people higher up than the Oath Keepers who were potentially involved in the conspiracy," he told Insider. Just as he distanced himself from Oath Keepers who entered the Capitol, Rhodes sought to downplay the far-right group's references to quick reaction forces, or QRFs, in his testimony before jurors.

☆ Jury to begin deliberating in Oath Keepers' Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is facing trial alongside four other defendants: Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell. Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson went inside the Capitol during the attack, while Rhodes and Caldwell were present on restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors have not proven that the Oath Keepers had an organized plan to storm the Capitol before Jan. 6. Three defendants — Rhodes, Caldwell and Watkins — took the stand in their own defense during the trial, which began with opening arguments on Oct. 3. In 1995, a jury convicted "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman and others on seditious conspiracy charges in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

☆ Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes slipped and testified he supports the 'right to riot' at his January 6 trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes took the risky step of testifying in his own defense. Rhodes said he founded the Oath Keepers as a community service-minded group. "I support the right to riot," Rhodes testified, before correcting himself to say, "I support the right to protest." "Like I said," Rhodes testified, "we supported the right to protest." Rhodes also bristled at the characterization of the Oath Keepers as a racist group.

☆ Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes drafted a text to Trump warning that Biden would 'turn all that power on you,' feds reveal at trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A government witness recorded a meeting with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes after January 6. Jason Alpers said Rhodes typed a message for Trump warning his children would "die in prison." In that draft message, Rhodes sought to tell Trump that he "must do as Lincoln did." Federal prosecutors are expected to rest their case against Rhodes and the four other Oath Keepers members on Wednesday. At the outset of the trial, Rhodes' lawyer told jurors that the Oath Keepers founder planned to testify in his own defense.

☆ A former Oath Keeper testified he was in 'freakout mode and scared' after January 6. 'I'm going to have to tell my mom.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A former Oath Keepers member testified at the first seditious conspiracy trial linked to January 6. Graydon Young said he was "regalvanized" by Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes. Prosecutors showed text messages in which Oath Keepers planned for a revolution-like event. Within weeks of joining the Oath Keepers, in late 2020, he joined a security detail for longtime Trump ally Roger Stone. Inside the Capitol, Young testified Monday, "It was pandemonium."

☆ An Oath Keeper admitted the group stockpiled a stash of guns in a Virginia hotel room before the Capitol riot
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cummings told the jury the stash of guns in that room rivaled what he saw in the military. Cummings told the jury he kept the gun in a collective Oath Keepers' weapons stash at a Virginia hotel room instead of bringing it into DC. Prosecutors say the gun stash was part of the Oath Keepers' plan to arm a "quick reaction force," per NBC News. Several other Oath Keepers — including Brian Ulrich, Joshua James, and William Todd Wilson — have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. The Oath Keepers initially branded its members as defenders of the Constitution.

☆ A cop put on a MAGA hat to save fellow officers on Jan. 6 – and an Oath Keeper helped
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +18 min

“Escorted!”The man escorting them, with the bullhorn in the Eddie Bauer jacket, was a member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization. Three other Oath Keepers — Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson — have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Johnson wasn’t aware that Nichols was an Oath Keeper, nor of who the Oath Keepers were, his lawyer said. ‘They’re being scapegoated’The Oath Keepers charged in the seditious conspiracy, according to the government’s evidence, came prepared on Jan. 6. The judge overseeing the Oath Keepers case said that the evidence can be introduced only if the defendants witnessed it directly.

☆ Oath Keepers on trial: A high-stakes seditious conspiracy case could reveal new details about plotting for Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Jury selection is set to start in the trial of five Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy. Oath Keepers plan to argue they were waiting on January 6 for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. "We aren't getting through this without a civil war," Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes wrote on November 5, 2020, according to court records. On Tuesday, jury selection began in the trial of Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers members confronting the most serious charges to date in a prosecution stemming from the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. "We must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election," Rhodes wrote on November 7, referring to Slobodan Milošević.

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