WASHINGTON: Stewart Rhodes, founder of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for last year’s attack on the US Capitol in a failed bid to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss — an important victory for the Justice Department.
Rhodes, a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney, was accused by prosecutors during an eight-week trial of fomenting a plot to use force to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
He was the best-known of the five defendants in the most significant of the numerous trials arising from the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. One co-defendant, Kelly Meggs, was also found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Tuesday, while three others — Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell — were acquitted of that charge.
US District Judge Amit Mehta has presided over the trial. The jury deliberated for three days.
Rhodes, who wears an eye patch after accidentally shooting himself in the face with his own gun, is one of the most prominent defendants of the roughly 900 charged so far in connection with the attack.
Rhodes in 2009 founded the Oath Keepers, a militia group whose members include current and retired US military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders. Its members have showed up, often heavily armed, at protests and political events around the United States including the racial justice demonstrations following the murder of a Black man named George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Prosecutors during the trial said Rhodes and his co-defendants planned to use force to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden’s election victory. Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson all entered the Capitol clad in tactical gear.
The defendants was were accused of creating a “quick reaction force” that prosecutors said positioned at a nearby Virginia hotel and was equipped with firearms that could be quickly transported into Washington if summoned.
Fifty witnesses testified during the trial. Rhodes and two of his co-defendants testified in their own defense. They denied plotting any attack or seeking to block Congress from certifying the election results, though Watkins admitted to impeding police officers protecting the Capitol.
Rhodes told the jury he had no plan to storm the Capitol and did not learn that some of his fellow Oath Keepers had breached the building until after the riot had ended.
Prosecutors during cross-examination sought to paint Rhodes as a liar, showing him page after page of his inflammatory text messages, videos, photos and audio recordings. These included Rhodes lamenting about not bringing rifles to Washington on Jan. 6 and saying he could have hanged US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat reviled by the right, from a lamppost.
Watkins, a transgender woman who fled the US Army after being confronted with homophobic slurs, and Caldwell, a disabled US Navy veteran, also chose to testify.
Watkins admitted to having “criminal liability” for impeding police officers inside the Capitol and apologized. At the same time, Watkins denied having any plan to storm the building, describing being “swept up” just as enthusiastic shoppers behave on “Black Friday” when they rush into stores to purchase discount-price holiday gifts like TVs.
Caldwell, who like Rhodes did not enter the Capitol building and never formally joined the Oath Keepers, tried to downplay some of the inflammatory texts he sent in connection with the attack. Caldwell said some of the lines were adapted from or inspired by movies such as “The Princess Bride” and cartoons such as Bugs Bunny.
Four other Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go to trial in December. Members of another right-wing group called the Proud Boys, including its former chairman Enrique Tarrio, also are due to head to trial on seditious conspiracy charges in December.
Right-wing Oath Keepers founder convicted of sedition in US Capitol attack plot
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Right-wing Oath Keepers founder convicted of sedition in US Capitol attack plot
Xi, Putin hold video call: Chinese state media
- State broadcaster did not immediately give details of what was discussed during the call
Xi and Putin “held a video meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the afternoon of January 21,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
The broadcaster did not immediately give details of what was discussed during the call.
China has sought to depict itself as a neutral party since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But it remains a close political and economic partner of Moscow and has never condemned the war, leading some NATO members to brand Beijing an “enabler” of the conflict.
Both sides have made much of Xi and Putin’s supposedly strong personal bond, with Xi calling the Russian leader his “best friend” and Putin lauding his “reliable partner.”
In a New Year’s message to Putin last month, Xi vowed to promote “world peace and development,” according to a contemporary CCTV report.
“In the face of rapidly evolving changes not seen in a century and the turbulent international situation, China and Russia have consistently moved forward hand-in-hand along the correct path of non-alignment, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party,” the broadcaster reported Xi as saying.
Indian forces kill 14 Maost rebels, including top commander
- New Delhi has stepped up efforts to end the decades-long conflict
- Tuesday’s clashes follow the killing of 12 Maoists on January 16
RAIPUR, India: Indian security forces shot dead at least 14 Maoist rebels, including a top commander, on Tuesday in what the interior minister said was one of the heaviest bouts of recent fighting.
The interior ministry said the commander killed was a leader known as Jairam or Chalpati, who had a $115,000 bounty on his head.
New Delhi has stepped up efforts to end the decades-long conflict. Tuesday’s clashes follow the killing of 12 Maoists on January 16, also in the guerrillas’ heartlands in the forests of India’s Chhattisgarh state.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized people in India’s resource-rich central regions.
Around 287 rebels were killed in 2024, according to official figures.
The rebels, also known as Naxalites after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
“Another mighty blow to Naxalism,” Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a statement, confirming that 14 rebels had been “neutralized.”
Shah, who has set a deadline of March 2026 to defeat the rebels, said that “Naxalism is breathing its last.”
Police said reinforcements had been sent to the area.
“Forces are still inside the forest,” said Vivekananda Sinha, head of Chhattisgarh’s anti-Maoist operation.
The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.
They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.
New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops this month.
Landslide kills 16 in Indonesia’s Central Java, official says
- The landslide was triggered by heavy rains in the area
- The search for those missing has been hampered by rain
JAKARTA: A landslide in Indonesia’s Central Java city of Pekalongan killed 16 people and injured 10, an official at the country’s regional disaster mitigation agency and police said on Tuesday.
The landslide was triggered by heavy rains in the area, Bergas Caturasi, an official at the country’s regional disaster mitigation agency told news channel Kompas TV.
The search for those missing has been hampered by rain, Bergas said.
“The search continues on, because we don’t have a lot of time. We’re in a race with the weather,” he said.
Afghan Taliban announce Qatar-brokered prisoner swap deal with US
- Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for US citizens
- Media named the Americans as William McKenty and Ryan Corbett, the latter in Taliban custody since 2022
KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday they had released American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.
Discussions about the prisoner exchange were confirmed last year, but the swap was announced after outgoing US president Joe Biden handed over to Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday.
“An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country,” the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Mohammad had been serving a life sentence in the state of California after being arrested “almost two decades ago” in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
Asked by AFP, the foreign ministry declined to provide further details or the number of American prisoners.
However, in July last year, the Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two American prisoners were being held in custody in Afghanistan and that an exchange had been discussed with the United States.
US media named the Americans as William McKenty and Ryan Corbett, the latter in Taliban custody since 2022.
Biden came under heavy criticism for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, more than a year after Trump presided over a deal with the Taliban insurgents to end US and NATO involvement in the two-decade war.
After Trump’s election win in November, the Taliban government had said it hoped for a “new chapter” in ties with the United States.
Taliban authorities have repeatedly said they want positive relations with every country since sweeping back to power in 2021.
No state has officially recognized their government, with restrictions on women’s rights a key sticking point for many countries, including the United States.
The Taliban government on Tuesday called the exchange “a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, expressing special gratitude for the effective role of the brotherly country of Qatar in this regard.”
“The Islamic Emirate views positively those actions of the United States that contribute to the normalization and expansion of relations between the two countries,” it added, using the Taliban authorities’ name for their government.
Dozens of foreigners have been detained by the Taliban authorities since the group’s return to power.
It is unclear how many Afghan citizens are in US custody.
At least one Afghan prisoner remains in detention at the secretive US prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Muhammad Rahim, whose family called for his release in November 2023.
In February last year, two former prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay until 2017 were welcomed home to Afghanistan, more than 20 years after they were arrested.
Afghan prisoner in US custody freed in exchange for American citizens, Kabul says
KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday it had released American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.
Discussions about the prisoner exchange were confirmed last year, but the swap was announced after outgoing US president Joe Biden handed over to Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday.
“An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammed imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country,” the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Mohammed had been serving a life sentence in California after being arrested “almost two decades ago” in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
The foreign ministry declined to say how many US prisoners had been released, but last year government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two American prisoners were being held in custody. US media reported that two other Americans remain in detention.
The family of US citizen Ryan Corbett, who was detained by the Taliban in 2022, confirmed he was released and expressed “overwhelming gratitude” that he was coming home.
“Today, our hearts are filled with overwhelming gratitude and praise to God for sustaining Ryan’s life and bringing him back home after what has been the most challenging and uncertain 894 days of our lives,” the family said on their website.
They thanked both the Biden and Trump administrations, as well as Qatar, for Corbett’s freedom, and called for two other Americans held in Afghanistan to be released.
US media named William McKenty as the second American detainee, noting little was known about what he was doing in Afghanistan and that his family had asked the US government for privacy in his case.
The New York Times said two other Americans remain in detention in Afghanistan, former airline mechanic George Glezmann and naturalized American Mahmood Habibi.
Biden came under heavy criticism for the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, more than a year after Trump presided over a deal with the Taliban insurgents to end US and NATO involvement in the two-decade war.
After Trump’s election win in November, the Taliban government had said it hoped for a “new chapter” in ties with the United States.
Taliban authorities have repeatedly said they want positive relations with every country since sweeping back to power in 2021.
No state has officially recognized their government, with restrictions on women’s rights a key sticking point for many countries, including the United States.
The Taliban government on Tuesday called the exchange “a good example of resolving issues through dialogue, expressing special gratitude for the effective role of the brotherly country of Qatar in this regard.”
“The Islamic Emirate views positively those actions of the United States that contribute to the normalization and expansion of relations between the two countries,” it added, using the Taliban authorities’ name for their government.
A 2008 US Department of Justice statement named Mohammed — aged 38 at the time — as a member of “an Afghan Taliban cell” and said he was arrested in October 2006 and sentenced in December 2008 to “two terms of life in prison on drug and narco-terrorism charges.”
It was the first narco-terrorism conviction in a US federal court, the statement said.
Dozens of foreigners have been detained by the Taliban authorities since the group’s return to power.
It is unclear how many Afghan citizens are in US custody.
At least one Afghan prisoner remains in detention at the secretive US prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Muhammad Rahim, whose family called for his release in November 2023.
In February last year, two former prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay until 2017 were welcomed home to Afghanistan, more than 20 years after they were arrested.
