Jailhouse Interview: Stewart Rhodes warns Trump is next for politically motivated prosecution

The Washington Times ^ | Dec 28 | By Joseph Clark

[RandFan]

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia who was recently convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said his case is a harbinger of what the Justice Department has in store for former President Donald Trump

The former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate turned militia leader warned that his conviction on the rare Civil War-era charge has set an ominous precedent that should be a wake-up call for conservatives.

“Their success in my trial is paving the way for them to keep rolling through other people building up to Trump,” Rhodes told The Washington Times. “It was a warmup for what they’re going to do. That’s what that was — a political show trial.”

The Justice Department charged 11 members of the Oath Keepers with seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot. Prosecutors said the group coordinated travel to Washington with the intent of interrupting the peaceful transfer of power after the November 2020 presidential election.

Rhodes, who spoke to The Times from a detention facility in Virginia, plans to appeal the verdict. But he said the conviction has already set a dangerous precedent.

“Seditious conspiracy now is the most dangerous weapon that the deep state and the establishment have to use against dissent,” Rhodes said. “There’s no requirement, no element of that charge that includes an act in furtherance of a conspiracy.”

“It wipes out the free speech of the American people,” he said. “If it is used against anyone, the jury will be free to use their speech against them in a criminal proceeding.”

He predicted the Justice Department has others in its sights, including the former president.

“They’re going to do the exact same thing to President Trump,” Rhodes said. “.. They’re going to prosecute Trump.”

[Nifster]

Well done h. They’ve been at it since his first term

[Paladin2]

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States..." How are BiXiden and Majorkas[sp] not presently locked up?

[tinamina]

Graduated from Yale Law, the article says.

[Paladin2]

Yale has become a mere shadow of its former self.

Can’t even fix New Haven...

[sten]

they’ve been ‘prosecuting’ President Trump since the moment he won the election