January 6 hearing's Oath Keepers testimony revealed a dangerous pivot
Oath Keepers trial verdict: founder Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs guilty of seditious conspiracy for January 6 riot. Here's how we got here.
UPDATE (Nov. 29, 2022, 5:30 p.m. E.T.): In a mixed verdict, a jury on Tuesday found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, another member of the far-right organization, guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with U.S. Capitol riot. All five defendants were found guilty of other charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.
Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing provided the most comprehensive roadmap to date of how domestic extremist groups, specifically the Oath Keepers, were mobilized to the U.S. Capitol. Testimony and private messages released by the committee have supported evidence presented during the ongoing prosecution of 32 members and affiliates of the Oath Keepers of their role in the insurrection. Taken together, a picture has emerged detailing how an anti-government organization originally formed to oppose a supposedly tyrannical federal government found itself prepared to fight on behalf of a tyrannical U.S. president.
Understanding this evolution is crucial to understanding the motivations of founder Stewart Rhodes and his organization.
Understanding this evolution is crucial to understanding the motivations of founder Stewart Rhodes and his organization. In the years elapsed since the Oath Keepers’ founding in 2009 and Jan. 6, 2021, Rhodes recognized the strategic upside of embracing a wide range of right-wing conspiracies targeting perceived enemies and out-groups. This worldview then trickled down throughout the rank and file. In testimony on Tuesday, former Oath Keepers spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove described the group as a “dangerous militia, fed by the ego and drive of Stewart Rhodes,” who saw himself as a “paramilitary leader.”
This description is supported by Tasha Adams, Rhodes' estranged wife, who described to me in a series of direct messages the changes she noticed over time within the Oath Keepers and Rhodes himself. Adams says the group evolved from one that clearly “tapped into the energy and politics of the Ron Paul movement that was so popular during 2008-2009” to focus more on “the politics of the much more right-leaning Tea Party movement.” Subsequently, during the events of the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff, Adams says she witnessed how “the organization became more militant in rhetoric and actions.” By the 2016 election, Adams notes, “Stewart had completely morphed himself and his organization into a Republican militia group, one that was less about Rhodes’ anti-government ideology and more about gaining popularity” within the right-wing ecosystem.
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