Five members of the Oath Keepers including founder Stewart Rhodes are facing charges of seditious conspiracy, a dire allegation that the justice department hasn't pursued since 2010.
The group spent months planning the attack on the Capitol, according to federal investigators, with Rhodes spending $20,000 on weapons and equipment in the weeks leading up to the attack. The group planned to have armed quick reaction forces positioned to storm the Capitol, with Rhodes texting an encrypted group chat on January 6, and we will have several well equipped QRFs outside DC. A conviction on seditious conspiracy charges could lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years, but keep in mind, the last time the justice department brought the charges in 2010, a judge threw them out.
Kyle Young will be sentenced today after pleading guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer. Prosecutors say the Iowa resident restrained Washington, DC police officer Michael Fanone as another rioter shocked him with a taser Young provided. Fanone, who has since left the force but testified before the January 6 committee, wrote for CNN of his hopes for Young s sentencing:
On Tuesday, Young's attorney will ask a judge to sentence him to two years a laughably short sentence. Prosecutors have asked for a seven-year term, not quite a joke, but not nearly long enough. A former New York police officer with no criminal record received 10 years for attacking officers during the riot. It is not less than 10 years in prison. And an assigned cell in maximum security with his co-conspirator, Donald Trump.