This is the first time this type of charge has been brought against any of the Jan. 6 defendants. It came after DOJ Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen’s questioning disclosed that no one had been accused of "insurrection" in connection with Jan. 6.
The indictment was handed down by a grand jury on Wednesday, with the details being published on Thursday. The indictment claims that Rhodes and others conspired to "oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force, by preventing, hindering, or delaying by force execution of laws governing the transfer of power."
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According to CNN, in the days and weeks immediately after the November 2020 presidential elections, Rhodes sent messages on Signal saying things that include:
"We aren't going through this without civil war. Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body and spirit," and "There is no standard political or legal way out of this."
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The court document also claims that Thomas Caldwell, a different Oath Keeper, insisted on undertaking a reconnaissance trip before Jan. 6, 2021. It claims that the defendants had made a cache of weapons in a nearby Virginia hotel.
On the actual day of Jan. 6, 2021, Rhodes fired out yet another message on Signal stating, "All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything. So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They've had enough."
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This message seems to have been sent at 1:38 pm, while Trump was still addressing his audience and the storming of the Capitol had already started.
In previous interviews with Conservative groups, Rhodes has announced that the members who entered the Capitol had "gone off mission" and were not acting on his orders.
Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested on Thursday. The others charged with seditious conspiracy were already facing separate criminal charges in relation to the attack.
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Lawyers for some of the accused have claimed that they were present at the Capitol to provide security for high-profile Conservatives, including Roger Stone - an ally of Mr. Trump, whom he pardoned in the final days of his term.
Sedition charges are exceptionally rare in modern U.S. history and were last applied by federal prosecutors to a Michigan militia in 2010. The group, alleged to have plotted an attack on police officers, was acquitted by a judge who ruled that their violent rhetoric did not indicate a "concrete agreement to forcibly oppose the United States government."
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