A U.S. judge dismissed cases against members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia on Tuesday in response to the U.S. Justice Department’s request not to hold them accountable for their role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Oath Keepers Dismissed
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta from Washington tossed out convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others involved with the group who were also convicted for their parts in the conspiracy of plotting to overthrow the 2020 election after President Donald Trump rightfully lost.
The Oath Keepers is a far-right American militia group described as the “largest and most prominent organizations of the militia/patriot movement.” It was founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, whose initial ideological position was to defend citizens from the government intentionally leading them into chaos.
But those positions have changed over time, and more so, it is believed that Rhodes is solely motivated by making a profit. His own children have called the Oath Keepers a “grift,” or a small-scale swindling.
Releasing January 6 Terrorists
In President Trump’s 2024 campaign run, he pledged to release all of the January 6 rioters, who are his biggest supporters, from prison and pardon them for their terrorist crimes. All 1,600 people have been released from prison since his win in the last election, and pardons have been underway, while some are having their prison sentences commuted.
Mehta presided over the two conspiracy trials in 2022 and 2023, and is expressively displeased with the outcome of this most recent ruling. He wrote that he strongly disagreed with the Trump Justice Department’s decision to dismiss the rebellious Oath Keepers group, but if the prosecutors wanted to drop the case, they were within their power to do so, and he could not stop them.
“Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of presidential power — to buckle,” Mehta wrote in his ruling. “The court cannot write a different ending.“
The Justice Department has also moved to dismiss the inflammatory conspiracy convictions of those in the far-right Proud Boys group for their criminal actions in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Attack on The U.S. Capitol
On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to overthrow the transfer of power. Thousands of men and women, at the call of Trump, led the terrorist attack, demanding that Congress reject Biden’s election victory.
Trump incited the violence by publicly claiming the election had been stolen and that there was voter fraud, but his attempts were unsuccessful as the election results had been certified. However, many were left traumatized by the events, many were injured, and several people died, including Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers. The damage caused by Trump’s mob added up to $2.7 million.
Justice Department Fails
The eight defendants, including those of the Oath Keepers extremist militia, were part of the few remaining January 6 rioters who were not fully pardoned and would have had to remain in prison for the remainder of their sentence.
Several of the Oath Keepers had appealed their convictions, but because the Justice Department intervened, they will now be released and continue their terrorist or swindling activities.
Prosecutors justified their decision to ultimately not pursue the charges against the Oath Keepers and other rioters because of Trump’s order to drop all pending cases against the parties involved with the January 6 incident on the first day of his second term.
While Trump believes that his mob supporters were mistreated after storming the U.S. Capitol and that their prosecutors proved to be an abuse of the legal system, prosecutors and the Justice Department did not note that in their argument to dismiss the cases.
