The leader of the Oath Keepers is charged with conspiracy for Jan. 6 riot

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The leader of the Oath Keepers is charged with conspiracy¹ for Jan. 6 riot

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The federal government has charged Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and 10 others with seditious conspiracy in the most serious case to emerge from its probe into the Capitol attack.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

What did Stewart Rhodes do? And what did he intend to do in the attack on the United States Capitol one year ago? Prosecutors³ have charged Rhodes with sedition⁴. He is the leader of the Oath Keepers, a self-styled militia⁵ whose members talk of defending themselves against their own government and have also armed themselves. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this story. Ryan, good morning.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: Who is Stewart Rhodes?

LUCAS: So Rhodes is a former Army paratrooper and a graduate of Yale Law School. He's got a very distinct look. He's got a black eye patch because of an accident several years ago. But he founded the Oath Keepers more than a decade ago. And this is, as you mentioned, a loosely organized, self-styled militia that tries to recruit former members of the military, former police, folks like that. In Rhodes' telling, his group defends Americans from a tyrannical government. But in the telling of researchers and watchdogs, they say the Oath Keepers is really just a far-right extremist group.

Now, as for this indictment⁷, Rhodes faces several charges. But the big one here that stands out is seditious conspiracy. It's a charge that prosecutors rarely use, but it is a serious one. It carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. We've known for a long time that the Justice Department was looking at potentially using this charge in relation to January 6. But this case, this marks the first time they've actually brought it in the Capitol riot investigation⁸. And they've brought it against Rhodes and 10 others in his group.

INSKEEP: Ten others - how does Rhodes fit in with them?

LUCAS: So as I said, there are 11 defendants¹⁰ charged in this indictment. Nine of them were already facing charges in connection with January 6. They're part of a large case that the Justice Department brought last year against around 20 Oath Keepers or peoples with ties to the group. Rhodes and one other defendant⁹ are the only ones who hadn't previously¹¹ been charged. That said, we've known for a long time that prosecutors were scrutinizing¹² Rhodes. He's come up in court papers in that previous case that I mentioned. All of that said, he's said publicly over the past several months that he believes he did nothing wrong.

INSKEEP: He says he did nothing wrong. But what does the Justice Department say that he did?

LUCAS: Well, prosecutors say that Rhodes and the others here conspired¹³ to stop, by force, the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden. The indictment includes one message from right after Trump's election loss, in which Rhodes wrote to other Oath Keepers, quote, "we aren't getting through this without a civil war. Too late for that." And prosecutors say Rhodes wasn't just talking, he was also organizing. He and other defendants recruited members to take part in trainings. They planned travel to Washington, D.C., for January 6. They organized into teams. They brought paramilitary gear to D.C. Some of them even brought guns. And they stashed¹⁴ them at a hotel across the river in Virginia in case things got messy downtown around the Capitol. On January 6 itself, several suspected Oath Keepers did enter the Capitol. There's no evidence that Rhodes did. Although, he was on the grounds of the Capitol. Court papers say that Rhodes was communicating with the other Oath Keepers in a chat group as the Capitol attack was taking place, as the mob was storming the building. So his role was really more of a leadership and coordinating¹⁵ one, according to prosecutors.

INSKEEP: Which makes this very interesting because it seems to me that most of the people charged so far are what you might describe as front line rioters or front line attackers, people who charged into the Capitol. Now they're moving up the chain a little bit here.

LUCAS: That's right. That's right, you know? More than 700 people have been arrested so far in connection with January 6. A lot of them face misdemeanor charges - those are the folks that you're referencing there. Now, hundreds have been charged with assaulting police officers or obstruction¹⁶. Some face conspiracy charges. But this indictment against Rhodes and other Oath Keepers is the first, as I said, to charge seditious conspiracy. And that's a big deal. It's important because of the charge but also because, as you said, it's against the leader of a big anti-government militia group, one of the biggest in the country. So this is probably the most serious case so far to come out of this big investigation into the Capitol riot.

INSKEEP: NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas. Thanks, as always, for your careful reporting, really appreciate it.

LUCAS: Thank you.

1 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

4 sedition   

n.煽动叛乱

参考例句：

• Government officials charged him with sedition.政府官员指控他煽动人们造反。
• His denial of sedition was a denial of violence.他对煽动叛乱的否定又是对暴力的否定。

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

10 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 scrutinizing   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His grandfather's stern eyes were scrutinizing him, and Chueh-hui felt his face reddening. 祖父的严厉的眼光射在他的脸上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The machine hushed, extraction and injection nozzles poised, scrutinizing its targets. 机器“嘘”地一声静了下来，输入输出管道各就各位，检查着它的目标。 来自互联网

13 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

14 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

16 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。