Prosecutors seek 25 years for 'Oath Keepers' founder
The US Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to sentence Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 25 years in prison for his conviction on seditious conspiracy and other charges over the 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The Justice Department is also seeking a sentence of 21 years for another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, who was also found guilty in November of seditious conspiracy by a Washington jury. Rhodes and Meggs are among 10 members of far-right groups found guilty of seditious conspiracy – a plot to oppose the government with force – for their roles in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which was an attempt to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden's 2020 election win. If fully imposed, the recommended sentences would be the longest so far for anyone convicted in connection with the Capitol riot. Prosecutors said the defendants "played a central and damning role" in the attack and should be sentenced more severely than other rioters because their conduct was comparable to domestic terrorism. Earlier on Friday, Peter Schwartz, a Pennsylvania man with a lengthy criminal history, was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for storming the Capitol, the longest prison term handed down so far. Trump, who is now again seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in 2024, continues to falsely claim that his defeat was the result of fraud. The same Washington jury that convicted Rhodes and Meggs cleared three other co-defendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, of seditious conspiracy. But all five were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding – the congressional certification of the election results – with mixed verdicts on a handful of other charges. Prosecutors said they were seeking 18 years in prison for Watkins, 15 years for Harrelson and 14 years for Caldwell. (Reuters)