Stewart Rhodes called for violent action on Jan. 6: 'They won’t fear us til we come with rifles in hand'
Stewart Rhodes was calling for violence ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection in a bid to keep Donald Trump in power.
An FBI agent testified Friday that text messages exchanged between the Oath Keepers founder and Republican operative Roger Stone in a group chat discussed a scheme by Doug Mastriano, then a Pennsylvania state senator and now the GOP gubernatorial nominee, and other Republican legislators to reject President Joe Biden's election win.
“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!" Rhodes texted on Dec. 15, 2020, according to investigators. "He must do it NOW before Jan. 6. And he needs to give the state legislators time to decertify before Jan. 6. In at least three of these states.”
Rhodes, who is on trial for seditious conspiracy, repeatedly urged the former president to invoke the Insurrection Act, and the Oath Keepers leader seemed to expect deadly violence would result from his efforts.
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"But he needs to know that if he doesn’t do it we will," Rhodes told other members of his right-wing militia, "and if we have to do it ourselves without him as Commander in Chief, it will be exponentially harder, and many more of us will die."
Rhodes then sent a message directly to Oath Keepers lawyer Kellye SoRelle, who has also been charged in the case, indicating the Jan. 6 demonstration required violent action.
“This will be DC rally number three. Getting kinda old," Rhodes told her. "They don’t give a sh*t how many show up and wave a sign, pray, or yell. They won’t fear us til we come with rifles in hand.”
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