Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for his role in the Capitol riot.
The far-right extremist group leader is the first person charged in the January 6, 2021, attack to be convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy and other crimes.
Mr Rhodes stayed outside the Capitol but co-ordinated with militia members who stormed the building in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after the 2020 election.
Before handing down the sentence, the judge told a defiant Mr Rhodes that he is a continued threat to the US, saying it’s clear he “wants democracy in this country to devolve into violence.”
“The moment you are released, whenever that may be, you will be ready to take up arms against your government,” US District Judge Amit Mehta said.
It was one of the most consequential cases brought by the Justice Department, which has sought to prove that the riot by right-wing extremists like the Oath Keepers was not a spur-of-the-moment protest but the culmination of weeks of plotting to overturn Mr Biden’s election victory.
Prosecutors had sought 25 years for Mr Rhodes, who they say was the architect of a plot to forcibly disrupt the transfer of presidential power that included “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel to ferry weapons into D.C. if they were needed.
However, the weapons were never deployed.
Mr Rhodes slammed the prosecution as politically motivated, noted that he never went inside the Capitol and insisted he never told anyone else to do so.
“I’m a political prisoner and like President Trump my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with prosecutors to apply enhanced penalties for “terrorism,” under the argument that the Oath Keepers sought to influence the government through “intimidation or coercion.”
Judges in previous sentencings had shot down the Justice Department’s request for the so-called “terrorism enhancement” — which can lead to a longer prison term — but Mehta said it fits in Mr Rhodes’ case.
Prosecutors argued that a lengthy sentence is necessary to deter future political violence.
Assistant US Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy pointed to interviews and speeches Mr Rhodes has given from jail repeating the lie 2020 election was stolen and saying it would be again in 2024.
In remarks just days ago, he called for “regime change,” the prosecutor said.
People “across the political spectrum” want to believe that January 6 was an “outlier,” Ms Rakoczy said. “Not defendant Rhodes.”
A lawyer for Mr Rhodes, who plans to appeal his conviction, said prosecutors are unfairly trying to make him “the face” of January 6.
Another Oath Keeper convicted alongside Rhodes in November — Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs — was expected to receive his sentence later Thursday.
