Four members of the far-right Oath Keepers group were convicted of seditious conspiracy Monday, joining founder Stewart Rhodes in being found guilty by a jury of plotting to keep President Donald Trump in power by force.
Seditious conspiracy charges are rarely used and even more rarely successful. At Rhodes’s trial only he and Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs were found guilty of the crime, while three associates were convicted of less politically-loaded charges.
Joseph Hackett, 52, ; Roberto Minuta, 38; David Moerschel, 45 and Edward Vallejo, 64, were described by federal prosecutors as armed and dangerous traitors, and by their attorneys as hapless has-beens who stumbled into chaos.
“They claimed to wrap themselves in the Constitution, but they trampled it,” prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler said in closing arguments. “They ignored the will of the people,” he said, but “had the audacity to claim to be oath-keepers.”
Of the nearly 1,000 people charged with committing crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, only 14 were charged with seditious conspiracy, identified by the Justice Department as not just participants in a violent mob but leaders using brutality to further a political plot. The Oath Keepers verdict comes as five members of the Proud Boys face trial down the hall on seditious conspiracy charges.
Hackett and Moerschel traveled to D.C. from Florida with Meggs and followed him into the Capitol at 2:38 p.m. Minuta was in a separate Oath Keeper group providing security for Trump confidante Roger Stone that morning. Stone refused to leave his hotel because the Oath Keepers could not guarantee him access to the presidential stage, according to the testimony. When the riot started, Minuta and the others left Stone and rode hotel golf carts over to the Capitol. They entered around 3:15 p.m. and were pushed out a few minutes later, but not before Minuta shouted at the officers, “This is our Capitol!”
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Vallejo came with friends from Arizona; he spent the morning of Jan. 6 trying to figure out where he parked his truck the day before. Then surveillance video shows he went back to the Ballston Comfort Inn where the Oath Keepers had stashed their guns. During the riot he repeatedly offered by text to come in as a “Quick Reaction Force,” and the next morning he went back to the Capitol to “probe the defense line,” but he got no response either time.
After the riot, the Oath Keepers dined at an Olive Garden in Tysons. At first, they were eagerly planning next steps, attendee Joe Harrington testified, like “preparing for a trip to Disney World.” Then they learned that federal agents were looking for them, and it was “like when the lights come on and the cockroaches scatter.” Several members woke up the next morning to find that their leaders had hastily left D.C.
Federal prosecutors alleged more emphatically than in the previous trial that the Oath Keepers came close to committing deadly violence. Rhodes expressed regret after Jan. 6 about not having rifles that day. Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo told jurors that both Minuta and Vallejo might have killed lawmakers had they not been deterred by the Capitol Police on Jan. 6 and the National Guard the day after.
Noting testimony that Florida Oath Keeper Kenneth Harrelson pushed Capitol Police to see if he could feel body armor, Manzo argued that “shooting officers … was on the table.” That allegation was not made before Harrelson, who was tried with Rhodes, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy in November.
Through attorneys, the defendants claimed their motives and actions, while foolish, were idiosyncratic and unplanned. They were drawn to the Oath Keepers not to overthrow the government but for protection from the antifascists, criminals and covid restrictions right-wing media led them to fear, they argued. Rhodes then convinced them he was likely to receive orders directly from President Donald Trump to muster as a defense force under the Insurrection Act.
“Responsibility really rests at our politicians’ feet,” Moerchel’s attorney, Scott Weinberg said. “The president and Stewart Rhodes were claiming that the world is coming to an end even before the election.” He said most Oath Keepers quit after about a year, when they realized it was just Rhodes’s “piggy bank” — and that those who joined the fray on Jan. 6 were mostly “rookies.”
Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act. Prosecutors say that’s when the Oath Keepers decided to act on their own. One former member, 21-year-old Caleb Berry, testified that Meggs explicitly directed the group to stop the vote count.
The defendants said that was a fabrication from an unreliable narrator, and that those who entered the Capitol did so spontaneously. Berry was not called to testify against Meggs in the first trial.
Former Oath Keeper says Jan. 6 could have been more violent
1:17
During Tuesday's Jan. 6 hearing, former Oath Keeper spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove said it was “lucky” the Capitol attack didn't result in more bloodshed. (Video: The Washington Post)
“The breach of the U.S. Capitol was a surprise to each and every one of the Oath Keepers,” Hackett’s attorney, Angie Halim, said in her closing argument. Weinberg compared it to “a soccer stampede.” Minuta “lost his cool” when pushed by an officer but hadn’t planned to get violent, his attorney, William Shipley, said: “Everybody has their sort of worst moments.”
Halim accused the Justice Department of doing a “curiously limited” investigation, with inexperienced FBI agents who “did not understand and did not bother to learn” about their targets beyond text messages and social media posts.
“They failed here,” she said, comparing the government blaming the Oath Keepers for the insurrection to Trump claiming the election was stolen. She called it “a heavily edited reality show.”
Seditious conspiracy charges are rarely used and even more rarely successful. At Rhodes’s trial only he and Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs were found guilty of the crime, while three associates were convicted of less politically-loaded charges.
Joseph Hackett, 52, ; Roberto Minuta, 38; David Moerschel, 45 and Edward Vallejo, 64, were described by federal prosecutors as armed and dangerous traitors, and by their attorneys as hapless has-beens who stumbled into chaos.
“They claimed to wrap themselves in the Constitution, but they trampled it,” prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler said in closing arguments. “They ignored the will of the people,” he said, but “had the audacity to claim to be oath-keepers.”
Of the nearly 1,000 people charged with committing crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, only 14 were charged with seditious conspiracy, identified by the Justice Department as not just participants in a violent mob but leaders using brutality to further a political plot. The Oath Keepers verdict comes as five members of the Proud Boys face trial down the hall on seditious conspiracy charges.
Hackett and Moerschel traveled to D.C. from Florida with Meggs and followed him into the Capitol at 2:38 p.m. Minuta was in a separate Oath Keeper group providing security for Trump confidante Roger Stone that morning. Stone refused to leave his hotel because the Oath Keepers could not guarantee him access to the presidential stage, according to the testimony. When the riot started, Minuta and the others left Stone and rode hotel golf carts over to the Capitol. They entered around 3:15 p.m. and were pushed out a few minutes later, but not before Minuta shouted at the officers, “This is our Capitol!”
Press Enter to skip to end of carousel
What to know about the Oath Keepers sedition trial
- Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
- He is accused of guiding a months-long effort to unleash politically motivated violence to prevent the swearing-in of President Biden.
- The Oath Keepers trial is the highest-profile prosecution to arise from the 2021 Capitol chaos.
- Rhodes is the most high-profile person charged in the investigation so far.
- Five members of the extremist group Oath Keepers, including leader Stewart Rhodes, face trial.
- The trial is an important step in the wider probe, analysts say.
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Vallejo came with friends from Arizona; he spent the morning of Jan. 6 trying to figure out where he parked his truck the day before. Then surveillance video shows he went back to the Ballston Comfort Inn where the Oath Keepers had stashed their guns. During the riot he repeatedly offered by text to come in as a “Quick Reaction Force,” and the next morning he went back to the Capitol to “probe the defense line,” but he got no response either time.
After the riot, the Oath Keepers dined at an Olive Garden in Tysons. At first, they were eagerly planning next steps, attendee Joe Harrington testified, like “preparing for a trip to Disney World.” Then they learned that federal agents were looking for them, and it was “like when the lights come on and the cockroaches scatter.” Several members woke up the next morning to find that their leaders had hastily left D.C.
Federal prosecutors alleged more emphatically than in the previous trial that the Oath Keepers came close to committing deadly violence. Rhodes expressed regret after Jan. 6 about not having rifles that day. Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo told jurors that both Minuta and Vallejo might have killed lawmakers had they not been deterred by the Capitol Police on Jan. 6 and the National Guard the day after.
Noting testimony that Florida Oath Keeper Kenneth Harrelson pushed Capitol Police to see if he could feel body armor, Manzo argued that “shooting officers … was on the table.” That allegation was not made before Harrelson, who was tried with Rhodes, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy in November.
Through attorneys, the defendants claimed their motives and actions, while foolish, were idiosyncratic and unplanned. They were drawn to the Oath Keepers not to overthrow the government but for protection from the antifascists, criminals and covid restrictions right-wing media led them to fear, they argued. Rhodes then convinced them he was likely to receive orders directly from President Donald Trump to muster as a defense force under the Insurrection Act.
“Responsibility really rests at our politicians’ feet,” Moerchel’s attorney, Scott Weinberg said. “The president and Stewart Rhodes were claiming that the world is coming to an end even before the election.” He said most Oath Keepers quit after about a year, when they realized it was just Rhodes’s “piggy bank” — and that those who joined the fray on Jan. 6 were mostly “rookies.”
Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act. Prosecutors say that’s when the Oath Keepers decided to act on their own. One former member, 21-year-old Caleb Berry, testified that Meggs explicitly directed the group to stop the vote count.
The defendants said that was a fabrication from an unreliable narrator, and that those who entered the Capitol did so spontaneously. Berry was not called to testify against Meggs in the first trial.
Former Oath Keeper says Jan. 6 could have been more violent
1:17
During Tuesday's Jan. 6 hearing, former Oath Keeper spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove said it was “lucky” the Capitol attack didn't result in more bloodshed. (Video: The Washington Post)
“The breach of the U.S. Capitol was a surprise to each and every one of the Oath Keepers,” Hackett’s attorney, Angie Halim, said in her closing argument. Weinberg compared it to “a soccer stampede.” Minuta “lost his cool” when pushed by an officer but hadn’t planned to get violent, his attorney, William Shipley, said: “Everybody has their sort of worst moments.”
Halim accused the Justice Department of doing a “curiously limited” investigation, with inexperienced FBI agents who “did not understand and did not bother to learn” about their targets beyond text messages and social media posts.
“They failed here,” she said, comparing the government blaming the Oath Keepers for the insurrection to Trump claiming the election was stolen. She called it “a heavily edited reality show.”
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