Militia leader sentenced to 18 years in US prison for storming the Capitol

“You represent a continuing threat and a danger to this country,” said Judge Amit Mehta, as he pronounced the sentence against the founder of the Oath militia Keepers.

“Seditious conspiracy is one of the most serious crimes an American can commit,” he commented.

The Oath Keepers participated, with an arsenal of weapons, in the invasion of the Capitol carried out by supporters of then President Donald Trump.

“You are intelligent, charismatic and convincing and that is frankly what makes you dangerous,” Mehta said, rejecting Rhodes’ claim that he was a “political prisoner.”

The sentence did not reach 25 years as the government intended, but Mehta accepted the argument that the Oath plan Keepers to violently prevent Joe Biden from becoming president became assimilated to terrorism.

Shortly before sentencing, Rhodes, with an eye patch and dressed in his orange prison jumpsuit, defiantly defended his group and its actions in support of Trump.

“I am a political prisoner,” he declared, comparing himself to the famous Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. “My only crime is opposing those who destroy our country,” he said.

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