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Before being indicted on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faced a different kind of scrutiny — from his own far-right group.
On Monday, federal prosecutors drew attention to questions and tensions surrounding Rhodes’ use of Oath Keepers funds for personal expenses in the years since he founded the far-right group in 2009. Federal prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy asked him if “ has been living off Oath Keepers for the past decade.’
“As I testified, I’m making a salary,” Rhodes replied. Rhodes went on to acknowledge “disagreements” with the Oath Keepers board, including the resignation of one member over concerns about the group’s spending of funds.
He confirmed he paid for travel, meals and firearms with Oath Keepers funds, but claimed he had no recollection of using the group’s money to visit family during the holidays in late 2020 — just weeks before the Capitol attack .
“Um…I don’t remember,” he said.
Rakoczy then pressed him, asking if he had tapped into Oath Keepers funds “enough” to cover personal expenses.
“I wouldn’t say it’s fair to say that. It’s my full-time job and I travel a lot,” he said.
Rakoczy questioned Rhodes during cross-examination that came after the Oath Keepers founder took the risky step of testifying in his own defense. Elsewhere in her questioning, she appeared to claim that Rhodes had not paid personal income taxes from 2008 to 2020, prompting an objection that was upheld by Judge Amit Mehta.
“There’s a lot to cross-examine him. I don’t think it’s necessary,” Mehta said.
Rhodes is on trial along with four other members of the Oath Keepers — Kelly Meggs. Kenneth Harrelson? Jessica Watkins; and Thomas Caldwell — on charges that they planned to violently prevent a peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.
In the week-long trial, prosecutors presented evidence of Rhodes’ attempt to urge Trump to take more drastic measures to stay in office and prevent the certification of Biden’s victory. Prosecutors have also shown video of Oath Keepers entering the Capitol in military-style stacking formations and have presented other evidence that the group had been stockpiling firearms in a hotel room outside Washington, D.C., for so-called “rapid reaction” forces. . could be deployed on January 6.
The high-profile trial featured the most serious charge — rioting conspiracy — the Justice Department has brought in a wave of nearly 900 prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill. But it has also shed light on the history and finances of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group expressly focused on recruiting current and former law enforcement, military and first-line personnel.
On the witness stand, wearing a suit and an eye patch, Rhodes distanced himself from the January 6 violence. Rhodes, who remained outside the Capitol, testified that he thought it was “stupid” for the Oath Keepers to enter the building.
Entering the Capitol, he said, “was not our mission.”
“It opened the door for our political enemies to expel us and that’s what happened,” he added. “Here we are.”
As he did Friday when he first took the floor, Rhodes sought to portray the Oath Keepers as a service-oriented group that provided protection during protests and social unrest but did not condone violence.
But in a question that looked at the history of the Oath Keepers for more than a decade, Rakoczy tried to poke holes in Rhodes’ presentation of the group. He noted Rhodes’ rhetoric and the location where he founded the group: Lexington, Massachusetts, the place “heard ’round the world” that started the American Revolution.
Since the Oath Keepers’ inception, the group has focused on “violent opposition to the government, right?” Rakocchi asked.
“That’s not right,” Rhodes replied.
Rakoczy later showed a photo of a gun-toting member of the Oath Keepers on the roof of a business during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that followed the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown. In her question, she also noted that Oath Keepers provided ammunition for AR-15 rifles during the 2014 standoff at Bundy Ranch.
For Rakoczy, Rhodes’ preferred image of the Oath Keepers was belied by his own messages with other members. In a planning message in late 2021, Rhodes recalled walking the streets of Portland, Oregon, during the social unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
“I was unarmed, but I had my helmet in my hand. Guess what that was? It was to hit someone right in the face if they’re going to come at me. So,” he wrote.
In another message before Jan. 6, Rhodes wrote: “Trump has one last chance, right now, to stand. But he’s going to need us and our rifles. But will he FINALLY act?”
Rhodes testified that, on January 6, he took an approach and delegated decision-making to the team leaders.
When Rakoczy asked if the buck stopped with him on Jan. 6, he replied, “No when they do something out of commission, I’m not responsible.”
“Well that’s convenient,” Rakoczy said.
