Oath Keepers founder guilty of sedition

Two leaders of the extremist Oath Keepers militia, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were found guilty of sedition in a trial stemming from the January 6, 2021 deadly attack on the US Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

A jury convicted Rhodes, 57, and Kelly Meggs, 53, leader of the militia's Florida chapter, of seditious conspiracy, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

The jury acquitted three other Oath Keepers of sedition.

Rhodes, an eyepatch-wearing ex-soldier, and the others were accused of plotting to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

During the two-week trial in Washington, prosecutors said the Oath Keepers "concocted a plan for an armed rebellion."

Prosecutors said the Oath Keepers stashed weapons at a hotel and joined the crowd that stormed the Capitol in a bid to block certification of Biden's victory.

Rhodes did not enter the Capitol but directed his followers like a battlefield general, prosecutors said.

Rhodes took the stand to deny his group planned to assault Congress but to act as security at rallies. But some Oath Keepers went "off-mission."