by Sadie Gurman at Wall Street Journal
Eleven people including Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of the right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers, have been indicted on charges of seditious conspiracy, marking an escalation of the Justice Department’s investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 last year.
An indictment unsealed Thursday accused Mr. Rhodes, 56 years old, of organizing an armed plot to storm the Capitol and stop the certification of President Biden’s election victory, bringing paramilitary gear and weapons to support the attack.
The case marks the first time the Justice Department has filed charges of sedition and comes days after Attorney General Merrick Garland promised that prosecutors would charge anyone responsible for the Capitol riot “at any level,” not just those who stormed the building. Mr. Rhodes was at the Capitol that day but has said he didn’t enter the building.
His lawyer, Jonathon Moseley, said he was on the phone with Mr. Rhodes just before 1 p.m. when agents showed up at the militia leader’s home in Granbury, Texas…