sara, first, tell us more about this stewart rhodes, edward viejo, the leaders of the oath keepers. >i have had several conversations with stoewart rhodes, who is the national leader or at least was of the oath keepers, and there was -- it was really interesting because when we looked at what happened with the oath keepers, several members of the oath keepers were the first to be charged with conspiracy charges in the january 6th insurrection. that's what led us down the road to start looking at whether or not stewart rhodes was there at the time in d.c. on that day, and he indeed was. there are pictures of them. there is video of him standing outside of the capitol, though not going into the capitol, but there's always been this question of whether or not he helped plan what ended up going down. there is video of some of the members of his oath keepers inside the capitol, saying they f'ing stormed the capitol, they're excited, they did this on their own social media, which is how in some ways they got busted. but for him, he has kind of stayed in the background since all of this has

you profiled stewart rhodes not too long about the january 6th attack.has a background some might not expect, yale law school, former clerk for the arizona supreme court. you spoke to somebody who was the first oath keepers gathering ever where rhodes laid out the tenets of what oath keepers would be. >> he started out as someone who was trying to fight what he believes in from the inside. so, yale law school, congressional staffer, walked the same halls of the u.s. capitol that his group members would later attack on january 6th. clerked the arizona state supreme court. to someone who was trying to undermine those same institutions that he was once a part of and really saw himself as outside of the system in a way that i think has hallmarks to the radicalization on the far right that we've seen from a number of these individuals. so, in stewart rhodes' case, he is somebody that started out preoccupied with the threat of big government and libertarian ideas that are fairly common in main stream political discourse in this country. he was skeptical of don

what will we see. >> reporter: well stewart rhodes is scheduled to appear in the next hour. it is a brief hearing for his initial appearance. the day after stuart rhodes was arrested in a suburb of the dallas-fort worth area and according to the 48 page indictment he is facing five criminal charges including that most serious carnal of seditious conspiracy and federal prosecutors are saying that rhodes and others spearheaded an attempt to oppose the peaceful transfer of presidential power and plotting to prevent this transfer of power using force. in that indictment they detailed some stunning and new allegations that we have heard. the most we've heard in the last year. the federal prosecutors say they intercepted communications that were used through the encrypted app signal in those text messages that they got and captured, prosecutors say that stewart rhodes texted we'll have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. that is what is going to have to happen. we are not going through this without a civil war. prepare your bond, mind and spirit. and the indic

you saw stewart rhodes up close and personal.t makes you so convinced he's guilty of these charges? >> stewart lived in my basement for several months towards the end of my tenure with the oath keepers. we spent a lot of time together, we got to know each other on a personal level. he spoke of things like this, what he would call a quick reaction force nearby that are more heavily armed. this is something that he's been doing as a leader of the oath keepers for quite a while. >> you saw the inner workings of the oath keepers. how dangerous was the organization? >> i think the biggest threat comes in their ideas. comes in their messaging. the real danger comes from kind of the lone wolf extremist set that are on the peripheral, that they're listening to alex jones, they're listening to stewart rhodes, taking it to heart. >> hey, guys. oath keepers here -- jason tatum. >> reporter: jason was featured in the documentary "homegrown." >> i have to own it. i was swept up, i was excited. and i was wrong. and i do, i feel awful about it.

instruct them to move in that stack formation as they moved with the hand on one shoulder, and so stewart rhodesw he has been arrested by the federal agents here. ana, prosecutors have laid out in detail just how involved rhodes allegedly was in directing the movements of these other oath keepers. they have documented his messages on signal, and that encrypted messaging app, and so the prosecutors have been building this case in the public eye for the past year, and now about a year later after he was interviewed by cnn and said that he was not involved in planning this attack at all, he has now been arrested by federal agents, ana. >> it is interesting that already the doj has talked about arresting more than 700 people, but we are now past a year after the january 6th insurrection, and this big name was just ar arrested. why did take it so long? >> well, ana, what the prosecutors have been doing is what jessica is just describing which is to try to build the case before they take action against stewart rhodes. the attorney general marek garland in the speech just before the anniversary of janu

cnn's senior national correspondent sara sidner has reported extensively on stewart rhodes and the oath with us now. sara, we heard a fascinating interview that berman was doing with the estranged wife of rhodes, who really gave us a look into who he is. you, as well, have had some experience covering him and the oath keepers. tell us about your impressions. >> reporter: look, so the oath keepers became extremely visible. they have been around for a very long time. they became extremely visible, i think, to the public at large, in 2014. that was during the -- in ferguson. there was a killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. there were protests that lasted for literally months. almost half the year. and every now and then you would see these group of guys who would come out and would be armed, they would have on military gear, they would be standing out together obviously in a group, and they said they were out there to protect, for example, businesses. and so they became a presence, but they always were armed to the tee. they looked like they were on a mission. th

seditious conspiracy charges, 11 defendants charged, including the leader of the oath keepers, stewart rhodesrhodes and others used encrypted communications to coordinate their actions leading up to january 6th. let's bring in cnn law enforcement correspondent whitney wild live from washington and cnn national correspondent sara sidner. whitney, let's begin with you. what more do we know about this indictment and these lengthy charges? >> well, there is a lot of detail in this indictment, and specifically it basically points out that there was this preplanned effort to have a list of elements that were going to help these people try to basically stop the transfer of presidential power by force. and that's really critical. what this is, in effect, is an answer to all of the people who said this was not an insurrection, this was a protest that got out of hand. instead the department of justice says, no, this was an act of sedition and here are 11 people we think are culpable for that. so, again, this is a major, major indictment, this is a really watershed moment as we cover the more than 700 c

you just say stewart rhodes had several arm to quick reaction forces on stand that could be called intowith others, has said in previous interviews with conservative groups that the members who entered capitol had gone off mission and were not acting on his orders. mission and were not acting on his ordere— mission and were not acting on his orders— his orders. one of the reasons i think his orders. one of the reasons i think the _ his orders. one of the reasons i think the indictment - his orders. one of the reasons i think the indictment itself. i think the indictment itself is so specific and outlined so many specific communications is trying to dispel the notion thatis trying to dispel the notion that is out there amongst certain circles that this was simply a band of merry pranksters and they were a simple group of people just protesting without any kind of ulterior motives.— ulterior motives. most republicans _ ulterior motives. most republicans have - ulterior motives. most - republicans have downplayed ulterior motives. most _ republicans have downplayed the seriousness of the c

as did stewart rhodes, the alleged brains behind this entire operation. after the election, he began to, quote, encourage members and affiliates of his organization to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power. you can see there the sort of call back to the seditious conspiracy language. also, how he and his allies, quote, began recruiting others to travel to d. c., to participate in operations aimed at stopping the transfer of presidential power. they coordinated travel across the country to enter washington, d. c., equip themselves with a variety of weapons, dawned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to answer roads call to take up arms at rhodes's direction. to be absolutely clear here, those are all quotes from an indictment, rhodes and caldwell and their associates. that are all innocent until proven otherwise in the court of law. but we should say this, rhodes did do a fair amount of this plotting in public. take this november 10th 2020 episode of conspiracy theorists alex jones'internet show. where in the middle of detailing

stewart rhodes is one of eleven defendants who the justice department charged with sedition on thursday for their involvement in the january 6th insurrection. >> these are the most significant charges in the investigation so far, and prosecutors say rhodes and others were plotting for violent takeovers well beyond january 6th. these indictments detail the arsenal of weapons and equipment they brought to the capitol and purchased in the weeks following. >> cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider joins us live. before we get to rhodes, another defendant, edward viejo just appeared virtually for his federal court appearance in arizona, what did we learn from that one. >> the hearing, the initial appearance just wrapped in federal court in arizona. the way it's laid out, he'll have another hearing next thursday. that will determine if he's eligible for release. he will be held until then. it's all because he is facing this serious charge of seditious conspiracy for allegedly plotting to violently overthrow the government along with ten other dfefendants including stewart rhodes who we'r

according to prosecutors, 0ath keeper founder — elmer stewart rhodes iii — told followers in december, bloody revolution against them... that's what going to have to happen". he's previously said members who entered the capitol onjanuary 6th were "off mission". earlier i spoke to ron filipkowski, a veteran, former prosecutor and current far—right researcher, about the severity of these charges the charges are just below treason. it is second only to treason as far as federal crimes go. the 0ath keepers, there are a number of paramilitary groups in the us that my team monitors — proud boys, 3%ers — but of the different groups the 0ath keepers have the most military which is one of the reasons they were the most sophisticated of the groups on the 6th of january. i refer to them as the tip of the spear of the people that went into the capitol building. they were some of the first in, the most well—equipped and they trained for it. they were pretty brazen leading up to the 6th of january, on social media saying what they were going to do. they also used encrypted message servicing, as wel

and who knows if stewart rhodes might cooperate. >> jessica, thanks very much. >> now sara sidner. u reported extensively on these so-called oath keepers including mr. rhodes. tell us about him. >> look, he was certain unapologetic after what happened on january 6th. then we went looking at some video and found that he was actually there, he was standing there. you can see him in pictures and video. with other members of the oath keepers. then you see these pictures of a group of oath keepers, nine or ten of them, all together in a row, in a stack, very much how the military might operate there in military garb, many of them, and we see them go in and breach the capitol. some of the members of the oath keepers, three of them, they were the first people to be charged with conspiracy for the january 6th insurrection. stewart rhodes, though, was never seen going into the capitol, but about 24 days after the insurrection happened, we heard from him. and we heard exactly what he thought about what was going on with this new administration, the joe biden administration. and he was encoura

the founder of the oath keepers, stewart rhodes, known as person one, now in custody. piracy as well as a handful of other crimes. he appeared before the federal judge yesterday in texas and will remain in custody until the next court appearance scheduled for this coming thursday. according to the indictment, two days after election day, rhodes urged followers to refuse to accept the election results and stated we are not getting through this without a civil war. too late for that. prepare your body, mind and spirit. the january 6th investigation is happening on multiple fronts. these charges come on the heels of new reporting of what appears to be a multistate coordinated effort to install fake electors for president trump. this was reported in five states that joe biden won. arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada and wisconsin. republicans appear to have filed fraudulent documents, falsely affirming that donald trump won despite that not being the case. sent the fake documents to the archives before the approval from congress. another failure in the system we didn't know

it's leader, stewart rhodes, some of those who went into the building where of mission and he had notation the months before this.- the months before this. yes. nine of the _ the months before this. yes. nine of the people _ the months before this. jazz nine of the people underneath him have already been in custody for several months so i would think that the number of them have already cooperated and spoken to federal authorities and most likely given statements against stewart rhodes, and that is one of the things that led to this indictment, i'm sure. so i am sure they have quite a lot of evidence. i posted on twitter today a video of stewart rhodes two days before january six, where he laid out exactly what he was going to do that day, two days ahead of time. going into a bit more _ two days ahead of time. going into a bit more detail - two days ahead of time. going into a bit more detail about. into a bit more detail about the 0ath keepers. they believe in the deep state, they believe the government is infiltrated by marxists. what more do they say, and what evidence do they have

stewart rhodes will appear next hour facing a major charge of seditious conspiracy. ewart and ten members including edward vallejo are accused of planning violence to stop congress for formally counting the results of the election. according to the indictment, rhodes sent the group an encrypted message within two days of the 2020 election. it said, quote, we're not getting through this without a civil war. and on the day of the riot, prosecutors say he reminded the group that prior to the american revolution, the nation's founders had stormed the governor's mansion in massachusetts. a short time later, some members of the oath keepers began moving into the u.s. capitol in military formation. rhodes stayed outside during the attack but prosecutors say in the weeks that followed, he met with his group to plan more violence and spent $17,000 on weapons and ammunition. in an interview this week rhodes claimed he did nothing wrong. >> i don't do illegal activities. i always stay on this side of the line. i know where the lines are, and it drives them crazy. >> in 30 minute

quote, beginning in november 2020, rhodes, defendant stewart rhodes, began disseminating messages on incriminated applications, encouraging conspirators to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power. on november 5th two days after the presidential election mr. rhodes urged followers to refuse to accept the election results and states, quote, we weren't getting through this without a civil war. too late for that. prepare your mind, body, spirit. on november -- two days later on november 7th, 2020, the day president trump was projected to have lost the presidential election, mr. rhodes wrote to fellow oath keepers quote we must now do what the people of s serbia did when milosevic stole their election. he refused to accept it and marched en masse on the nation's capitol. mr. rhodes appears to be in those comment reese fehring to the storming of the serbian parliament in 2000. rhodes shared with his followers a video and step-by-step destruction guide to overthrowing the government he received from a serbian activist. that step-by-step guide included storming the parliamen

it goes to the heart of our democracy. >> we should note stewart rhodes entered a not guilty plea in court. i want to play part of the defense from rhodes that came from his attorney who spoke to cnn today. take a listen. >> i want to see the entire documents because the planning was about events in florida. it was about december 12th, november 14th. and it was about their somewhat fanciful idea they thought the president was going to file them up under the insurrection act which i don't understand but they were fixated on the idea that trump was going to activate them as a militia under the insurrection act. and so we think that most of the quotes are misrepresented. >> what do you make of that defense, george? >> well, it's basically -- he's hanging his own clients with the rope that he's dangling. he's basically saying, they were there with the idea -- conspiring to use force because there's no legal way that donald trump could have authorized them to use force on behalf of himself in order to maintain power legally. so it's just -- the fact that he's, you know, he's admitting what

person with rhodes responded at the time we are acting like the founding fathers, can't stand down. stewart and i concur. mr. rhodes followed hey the founding generation stormed the governor's mansion in massachusetts and tarred and feathered his tax collectors and seized and dumped tea in the water didn't fire on them but they street fought. that's where we are now. next comes our lexington. it's coming. just one more thing i want to share with you from today's diameter because it continues beyond january 6th. there is a section of the indictment titled coconspirators continue plots after quote, throughout the evening of january 6th, 2021, the coconspirators discussed the need to continue fighting to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. in the weeks after january 6th rhodes purchased a large volume of firearms and related equipment. the indictment then lists thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars worth of sights and bipods and mounts and baugsen a gun grips, ammunition, gun cases, holsters and gun maintenance equipment all purchased by mr. rhodes at that time. you se

. >> tasha adams is the estranged wife of stewart rhodes which is facing sedition charges.he helped to found the oath keepers before it became the group that it is today. tasha, thank you so much for being with us this morning. our estranged husband hasn't been convicted yet. but when you hear the former president, donald trump, dangle the notion of pardons for, i presume, your estranged husband and the other capitol rioters, what's your reaction? . >> absolute terror. it's already been a huge roller coaster of a couple of weeks since he's been arrested with the threat of maybe not getting bail or maybe getting bail. it's just been back and forth. it's not just terror for me. it's terror for a lot of these families. as a lot of people know, there is a huge correlation between violence in the home and willingness to commit violence in the streets. and a lot of the families took the opportunity of this sort of sanctuary when their family members were arrested to apply for protective orders, restraining orders. some of the families themselves turned in their family member beca

this is from the indictment a message from stewart rhodes. rhodes stated if president-elect biden were to assume the presiden presidency it would be a bloody and desperate fight. he says we're going to have to fight a fight that can't be avoided. but, elie, stewart rhodes was at the capitol there but never entered the building. are they going after the planners now? and who could be next? >> well, i think the key to answering that question is going to be determined by who flips, right, and who cooperates because that's the key to bring them up the chain even further. i will tell you from my years as a federal prosecutor, people flip in federal cases all the time. i mean, the oath keepers say they have this oath. you know, those oaths go out the window real quick when you get hit with federal charges. and these guys are looking at very serious time. unfortunately, we've gotten used to some really laughable short sentences in these january 6th cases. the highest sentence we've seen so far is just over 5 years. these defendants are looking at sig

stewart rhodes's ex-wife spoke with cnn today, she described him as a sociopath, very much interested in creating a mythology of being a great leader around himself. >>> more on who the defendant is and what mr. rhodes himself said he had in mind when it comes to washington. >> reporter: oath keeper leader and founder stewart rhodes has spent nearly a year publicly denying he had anything to do with the violence on january 6th. >> there were no plans by the leadership, me and the team leader, whit, to enter the capitol, no instructions by us to do so. we didn't even know any of our guys had done it until afterward. >> reporter: but this indictment april cus rose of seditious conspiracy, a complex months' long plan for a bloody revolution if trump took office. rhodes purchased thousands of dollars of guns and tactical equipment, others setting up an armed quick reaction force and communicating as they stormed the capitol. >> we are executing civil arrest, we have probable cause, acts of treason, fraud. >> reporter: a promoter of the big lie called for donald trump to invoke the insurre

we have a lawyer for the oath keepers' founder stewart rhodes who is also representing another defendant. we have michael fanone, who was a capitol police officer on that day. we begin with a member of the january 6th panel that issued rhodes a subpoena back in november, that same month where you heard that chat about "too late" and "a civil war." congresswoman zoe lofgren of california, welcome to "cnn tonight," i'm glad you're here. thank you. >> thank you, good evening. >> good evening. congresswoman, it strikes people, first of all, to recall that there is the january 6th committee, of course, and there is the doj investigation. you're operating on really parallel tracks. but there is some intersection here, because you had subpoenaed rhodes as part of the committee back in november. what did you want to know then? and anything you can tell us about why you identified him so quickly? >> well, i can't get into all of that, but certainly it became quickly apparent that oath keepers had played a role, and we wanted to learn a lot more about that. we did issue a subpoena to him. i want t

near dallas yesterday, the fbi removing evidence of the group's leaders, stewart rhodes. he sent these messages to his followers after the 2020 election. >> reporter: investigators say he spent $17,000 on weapons and tactical gear in the weeks before the attack when he said this -- >> we have men stationed outside of d.c. as a nuclear option in case they attempt to remove the president illegally, we will step in and stop it. >> reporter: then on january 6, several oathkeepers were seen here marching up the steps of the capitol. investigators say other members were armed and stationed nearby, in an effort to stop the certification of joe biden's election victory. but the alleged conspiracy sid not end january 6. later that month on inauguration day, an associate of rhodes messaged a group saying, after this, if nothing happens, it's war. civil war 2.0. rods is due in court today. he has repeatedly denied any wrong doing. if convict, he could face 20 years in prison. as for the house select committee investigating the attack, it's focusing on social media companies, sending

stewart rhodes has been doing that a long time. he said get in there and fight but tends to walk away. this time he's part of it. he's been charged. he's been read to rights. how would law enforcement agency that wanted to break these kinds of momentums toward this kind of anti-government conspiraies that escalated from montana out west to the capitol, how do you undo it? how do you get in there? what do they need to do? >> here is the dilemma. we saw on january 6th a failure to act upon available intelligence. people were afraid of the intelligence. people are understandably law enforcement agencies do not want to spy on americans. they don't want to violate civil liberties but we have to allow them to do what they can do within the law and within the law, joy, they could have seen that intelligence, getting reports could have opened at least threat assessments if not full investigations to study and analyze what was happening and develop further intel about january 6th. the handcuffs have to come off of federal law enforcement to

the leader of the oath keepers stewart rhodes has been charged.ling detail their alleged plan to use force to stop the transfer of presidential power. according to the indictment rhodes messaged other oath keepers just days after the 2020 election saying, quote, we're not getting through this without a civil war. joning me now is david rode. he's the executive editor. last week we talked about attorney general merrick garland. lay out yesterday's actually indictments and what they say about the direction the garland doj is taking right now. >> it shows that they are looking at conspiracies. they're looking at who planned this, who carried it out, and, you know, it's a major -- i think this is by far the most important indictment they've done. it's a very serious charge, and i talked to a former fbi agent who tracked domestic terrorism in the past and he said he's impressed with the indictment and how they got here. for people who have been worried about garland and how aggressive he might be, this is a sign they are being aggressive. >> what are s

stewart rhodes remained outside the building but in the hours after the riot, the government says, he met with his team to plan further violence in the following weeks, prosecutors say he spent more than $17 million buying weapons and ammunition and on inauguration day, they say he messaged after this, if nothing happens, it is war, civil war 2.0. his lawyer says tonight the evidence doesn't support the charge last year rhodes says members of his member went off mission by entering the capitol and that he never instructed them to do so. >> pete williams tonight, thank you >> this evening the top house republican is refusing to cooperate with a january 6th committee about his contacts with former president trump during the attack our garrett haake is at the capitol with more tonight. >> reporter: top house republican kevin mccarthy defiant tonight in request for testimony from the january 6th committee. >> there is nothing that i can provide the january 6th committee for legislation of them moving forward. there is nothing in that realm it is pure politics of what they are playing. >>

>> well, stewart rhodes is one of the persons that we identified as someone we wanted to talk to.ns. we're not part of the criminal indictment. that's a separate investigation. >> brennan: okay. i understand. chairman, thank you for your time this morning. >>> and next up, we'll have more on the situation in ukraine and what can be done to stop russia. done to stop russia. ♪♪ there can be some not-so-pretty stuff causing vision loss or even blindness. so remember this: now is the time to get your eyes checked. eye care is important to your long-term diabetes management. see a path forward with actions and treatments that may help your eyes— and protect against vision loss. visit noweyesee.com and take control of your sight. [upbeat acoustic music throughout] and p[upbeat acoustic musicloss. throughout] you and me, partner, center of town, high noon. nope. daisy's got lassoing lessons at noon. high two o'clock, that work? i got a spur fittin' at two o'clock, how's about three? we don't need any more overscheduling. but we could all use more ways to save. what about tuesday? >> bren

here's our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas now. >> reporter: today stewart rhodes the founder of the oath keeper facing a federal judge, and if kikted potential decades in prison. >> he intends to fight the charges. >> reporter: rhodes, a yale law school graduate and arm vent was taken and custody, accuse of seditious conspiracy, of a premeditated plot of use of force to block joe biden's election as president. accord to the fbi, rhodes allegedly planning to disrupt the transfer of power soon after the november 2020 election. this is what he said just days after the election. >> because we have men already stationed outside d.c. as a nuclear option in case they attempt to remove the president illegally. we'll step in and stop it. >> reporter: that planning allegedly included reconnaissance of the nation's capital, buying firearms, ammunition, gun scopes and other tactical gear. he allegedly bought ten of thousands of dollars of weapons in the days before january 6th, and plans were allegedly made for teams of heavily armed quick reaction forces to stand by right outside the na

stewart rhodes pleaded not guilty.s one of 11 defendants facing the rarely used seditious conspiracy charge. cnn's ed lavandera has the details. >> reporter: stewart rhodes appeared calm and unfazed during his initial appearance in federal court friday here in pl plano, texas. rhodes and ten other members of the right wing group the oath keepers face criminal charges for actions during the january 6th insurrection. rodes and others face federal conspiracy charges, rhodes and other members of the oath keepers were plotting to oppose forcefully the peaceful transition of presidential power. in court documents, prosecutors lay out extraordinary detail that we really haven't heard about the january 6th insurrection. including details that rhodes and others got a cachet of weaponry. that rhodes brought teams stationed in a hotel room across from the potomac river in northern virginia with that weaponry. rhodes himself was inside the capitol. and prosecutors also say that they have communications that rhodes had with other b

this guy's name stewart rhodes. that is him with the eye patch. you would be shocked to learn it was to do with the unsafe handling of firearms. an accident with a gun, that is what happened to the eye. but in this election, as the 17 oath keepers were arrested for attacking the capitol in various capacities. some of them pleaded guilty, but throughout all this time the oath keepers leader with the eye patch, has been unavoidable for comment. he has been loudly telling any reporter who gets near him that the election was absolutely stolen from donald trump and he encourage them to be in d.c. in january 6th. he was there coordinating with fellow oath keepers, but also meeting to say, that he was not breaking the law because he is way too smart to have done anything illegal. today, stewart rhodes was arrested just after lunchtime in texas. another oak keeper guy was arrested in phoenix at the same time. and they, along with other oath keepers who were arrested at the attack in various capacities, they were indicted today on the very suspicious charg

imagine what happens if we get people like stewart rhodes out there creating havoc.2024 than in 2020? we need to imagine the unimaginable and also gather intelligence on these people. they may get out of the military but there is no reason why we can't continue to track and monitor them. we need to identify potential mutineers both in and out of ranks as quickly as possible. we need to educate our troops. it is a great opportunity for us to have military members within our ranks teaching them what civics 101 is, how great and beautiful our democracy is, how it is supposed to work. how it does work. how our elections are conducted. the innate integrity of our elections. stop listening to the pillow guy and start paying attention to what our democracy really is >> i think we could all use a little brush up sometimes on our civics. generals eaton and anderson, thank you for being with us this evening and also thank you for your continued service. we really appreciate it. >> thank you very much for doing this. >> we've been addressing the many ways our democracy is in pe

the feds say in this brand-new serious indictment that oath keepers militia founder stewart rhodes led a sedition conspiracy. they allege an indict him for, quote, trying to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force through the violent january 6th attack, and state that that attack was an illegal hindering of the laws governing the transfer of power. in the language of federal of law, violently opposing that transfer of power is sedition. in the language of political science, this may all wring like an echo to you, because the law speaks one way, sedition is what i read to you. but violatantly overthrowing the government is a coup. that is the purpose and conduct in this indictment. we are in a new phase of this probe. we have been living through this since january 6th and before. today is the first day with the unsealing of this indictment that the federal government is publicly treating it as as much as. that's a big deal. that's why sedition is so serious and so rarely charged. many murders are charged every year. we checked, and the best we can tell, the united stat

this is stewart rhodes speaking with alex jones. >> you've got to declare this regime to be illegitimate because everything out of team biden's mouth is illegitimate. there are 365 million of this, we outnumber them and we're well armed. they have a problem. >> it's easy to listen to those words and see those images of people in military dress-up, you know, wearing camouflage and the urban environment, downtown washington, d.c., but what we're learning in from this latest indictment is this group was potentially very dangerous and they had engaged in this paramilitary-type training, drawing members from the law enforcement and military community. just to give you a sense of what federal prosecutors allege, reading part of the indictment, they say on january 4th, two days before january 6th, while still traveling towards the d.c. metro area, rhodes spent approximately $4500 in mississippi on fireplace arms equipment, including sights, mounts, optic plates, and as they moved on, after january 6th, this group still tried to prepare and plan for inauguration day and denying joe biden that pe

once more, one of the man charges, stewart rhodes. the oath keepers.rooper, has denied any wrongdoing. his lawyers claim that prosecutors have failed to show evidence that supports the charges. sedition is a rare, and very serious charge, only a handful of people in modern times have been successfully prosecuted for that crime. the most recent was almost 30 years ago. take a look at his official definition under federal law. conspiring to overthrow the government or hinder the execution of any law in the united states. now, compare that definition to this little detailed in the indictment. and december 2020, he allegedly said if president -- he and his crew would have, quote, a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. that's what's going to happen. rhodes also spoke approximately six -- and related equipment, on january the 3rd, while on route to january's -- 's. do it, i'm no lawyer, but you might be in some trouble. hey, when do i know? let's talk to somebody who does, former u.s. attorney, barbara mcquade. barb, thanks so much for coming. h

they include stewart rhodes, the lead over the far-right extremist group, who will be arraigned in aurt this afternoon. whitney wild has more on this big move by federal prosecutors in what is the largest investigation in the fbi's history. >> reporter: stewart rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right group the oath keepers, arrested in texas on charges including seditious conspiracy. >> i hope that this arrest and this prosecution will shut up those of our colleague who is keep saying, well, if it was a conspiracy, how come there are in no conspiracy charges? no sedition charges? >> reporter: the justice department charging ten others with seditious conspiracy as well. >> this is such a powerful statement by the justice department. >> reporter: it's the first time federal prosecutors have used the sedition charge after bringing in more than 700 cases related to the insurrection. but prosecutors have long signalled that they were considering using the rarely applied section of federal law. and it was just last week in a speech commemorating the capitol attack where attorney genera

here's the leader, stewart rhodes he's a former army paratrooper with a law degree from yale. the fbi arrested him today federal investigators say the oath keepers had what they called quick reaction force teams stationed just outside the capitol, and the nation's capital on january 6th their job, to rapidly transport guns into the city as needed to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power the oath keepers also had teams on the ground at the capitol who used a military-style stack formation to force their way into the building. you can see them here walking through the mob in formation, single-file line, holding on to the militia member in front of them the department of justice alleges they had paramilitary gear, knives, batons, camouflaged combat uniforms, tactical vests with plates, bpls helmets and eye protection in an interview with the times over the summer, that very man, rhodes, claims he and some of the oath keepers had gone off their mission and there were zero instructions from him or the group's leadership to enter the capitol building the government report

according to the indictment, two days after the election, oath keepers founder stewart rhodes allegedly messaged followers. "we aren't getting through this without a civil war." and days later, writing -- "we must now do what the people of serbia did when milosevic stole their election -- refuse to accept it and march en masse on the nation's capitol." the fbi says on january 6th, members of the group allegedly moved in search of speaker pelosi, while others allegedly staged an armed quick strike force in virginia, not far from the capitol. >> the details are stunning. pierre with us live from the capitol tonight. and pierre, you're hearing from rhodes' attorney this evening? >> reporter: david, tonight, rhodes' attorney is pushing back hard, saying the government's case is built on nothing but lies. david? >> all right, pierre thomas following all of this since the sixth. pierre, thank you. >>> next this evening, to the powerful winter storm sweeping across the country. the midwest to the southeast. the real concern there, ice. and then right up the east coast into the northeast. sever

the doj charging the leader of the far right extremist oath keepers stewart rhodes and ten others. the charge carries 20 years max in prison. on december 22 and, 2020, according to the indictment, rhodes allegedly stated that if president-elect joe biden were able to assume the presidency, and i quote here, we will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. that's what's going to have to happen, end quote. and we saw the oath keepers in action january 6th. we saw it with our own eyes, right? it played out live on our television sets and we got the video thereafter. this video shows what is called a stack of them wearing military gear and moving in tactical formation through the crowd at the capitol. they aggressively pushed through the crowd, eventually getting inside. but we can't just look at what happened today, okay? it's not just what happened today, right? we have to expand our view of this, expand our lens a little bit. we can't even just look at what happened at the capitol on that day. this is about a months-long plot to block president joe biden from e

the seditious conspiracy indictment says after the november election stewart rhodes conspired with hise execution of laws governing the transfer of presidential power. and here is a key thing in this, chuck, because one of the things we've been waiting to hear is whether the government has been able to look at the encrypted communications that some of the capitol rioters have been using to plan their attack. according to the indictment here it says that they used this encrypted communication to coordinate and plan to travel to washington and made plans to bring weapons. i don't see in here anything specifically -- well, let's see. they conspired -- let's see -- to organize teams, prepared and willing to force and transport firearms into washington, to come to the capitol grounds, to breach an attempt to take capitol grounds and building on january 6th. so it appears, chuck, from my initial reading that this is the first time the federal government has ever alleged there are specific plans to enter the capitol. up until just now all the conspiracy charges have said that these people com

edward vallejo answered questions from a judge remotely from an arizona jail and 56-year-old elmer stewart rhodes u appeared in plano, texas. they are among 11 members of the far-right extremeist group the oath keepers. they are facing the most serious charges we have seen the department of justice bring in the wake and related to the insurrection. as we are learning more about these defendants and their plans and actions leading up to the 6th, it's clear they were not hiding their intentions. just days after the 2020 election, rhodes, the founder and leader of the oath keepers, told conspiracy theorist alex jones he was positioning his members around the capitol. >> we have men already stationed outside d.c. as a nuclear option and in case the attempt to remove the president illegally, we will stop it. i have good men on the ground already. we have been reconned there last week and we are sorting out where we are going to be staging and we will be inside d.c. also on the outside of d.c. armed, prepared to go in if the president calls -- it's president trump strengthened to do what we must do or

today, doj charged stewart rhodes. conspiracy for his role on january 6th. rhodes, who was at the capitol but said he did not enter the building, was arrested today by fbi agents and is the first person in the sprawling investigation into the riot to be charged with sedition. we're back with rick stengel and frank figliuzzi. frank, what's the significance of this in your view? >> it's hard to underemphasize how significant this is. the last time that i believe seditious conspiracy was successfully charged by the united states was, like, 1995, sheik omar for trying to blow up the united nations and the new york fbi headquarters, and nine of his cohorts. so, think about that. let that soak in. we charged seditious conspiracy against international terrorists trying to blow us up, and now we're doing it against our own, and even more sobering for me, nicole, is the fact that who's got charged here? oath keepers. who are they, primarily? u.s. military, active duty and retired and law enforcement, active duty and retired. st

but the big news, as you say, stewart rhodes, the leader of the oath keepers, has been charged with seditious conspiracy. the interesting thing about that is that there were 19 other members of the -- accused members of the oath keepers that have been charged with conspiracy in the past, a lesser conspiracy charge. two of them have pleaded glitz. of course rhodes had long said he was trying to keep his members in line, trying to keep them from causing serious trouble, and that he never actually entered the capitol on january 6th. what the government now says in this indictment is that by looking at encrypted communication messages that stewart rhodes was sending to his members, that he was egging them on, saying he was inspired by what happened in serbia in the election of milosevic when the people stormed the parliament. he said that in advance of the january 6th capitol riot. then on the day of it, at 1:30, he talked about lexington and concord and tarring and feathering. so they say far from somebody who was trying to keep the peace or keep his members in control, he was definitely urging