Less than a week after the Oath Keepers’ counsel was arrested and charged in connection with the attack on the US Capitol, the founder of the far-right anti-government militia has “relieved and terminated” his attorneys and asked to delay his trial on seditious conspiracy charges.
Stewart Rhodes also has requested transcripts from witness testimony to the House select committee investigating the 6 January, 2021 assault, including interviews with Kelly SoRelle, the Oath Keepers’ general counsel who spoke with the committee earlier this year and was arrested in Texas last week.
Mr Rhodes also suggested deposing Cassidy Hutchinson, the House committee witness who claimed that former President Donald Trump had mentioned the Oath Keepers while in the White House.
The self-stylised militia leader is among several members facing seditious conspiracy charges tied to the assault at the Capitol and in the halls of Congress. Three members have pleaded guilty. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
In court filings on 6 September, an attorney for Mr Rhodes claimed that the arrest of Ms SoRelle “represents a monumental change in how Rhodes expected to defend himself at trial” while his former attorneys are largely unavailable to him.
Mr Rhodes has not received “any mailings from his attorneys and has had no visits in almost two months,” according to the filing from Louisiana-based attorney Edward L Tarpley Jr.
Federal prosecutors have alleged that Mr Rhodes and other militia members spent weeks plotting an attempt to disrupt the joint session of Congress, including plans for a cache of weapons and supplies, to prevent Joe Biden’s presidency and keep Donald Trump in office.
A trial is scheduled to begin on 26 September. Mr Rhodes has pleaded not guilty.
Ms SoRelle reportedly joined a meeting the night before the riots that included Mr Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of the nationalist group the Proud Boys who has been separately charged with seditious conspiracy, along with other members of the far-right “western chauvinist” gang tied to violence across the US. That meeting has been scrutinised by both federal investigators and the House committee.
In Tuesday’s filing, Mr Rhodes’s attorney suggests that Oath Keepers members who have pleaded guilty may have been coerced by law enforcement and claims that Mr Rhodes has information that can show the men “are knowingly falsely claiming to be guilty of sedition”.
The filing says Mr Rhodes has a right to discovery of evidence tied to several Oath Keepers who have pleaded guilty and are “reportedly being used by prosecutors to provide testimony against others” to be able to prepare for his trial.
Mr Rhodes also claims a right to discovery regarding claims made by Ms Hutchinson “to determine if, when, where, and under what circumstances President Trump made such remarks” about the Oath Keepers.
In her blockbuster testimony to the House select committee in June, Ms Hutchinson – a former top Trump White House aide – said she heard “the terms ‘Proud Boys’ and ‘Oath Keepers’ when” now-former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was present in the days leading up to the attack.
Mr Rhodes also has requested interview transcripts from Mr Giuliani as well as Roger Stone and far-right election conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander.
Last month, US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a request to delay the Oath Keepers trial, arguing that moving the case would “wreak havoc” on the court’s calendar. He said he is confident a fair and impartial jury will be assembled, despite the House select committee resuming its hearings this month.
“We are not going to avoid that publicity by moving this trial for a few months,” Judge Mehta said on 2 August. “I don’t know what they’re going to do and when they’re going to do it. This is a court of law. We cannot wait on the legislative process to move forward.”
