- Stewart Rhodes' testimony opened him up to questions about his spending of Oath Keepers funds.
- Rhodes acknowledged "falling-outs" and a board member resigning over scrutiny of his spending.
Before his indictment on charges related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes faced a different kind of scrutiny — from within his own far-right group.
On Monday, federal prosecutors called attention to questions and tensions related to Rhodes' use of Oath Keepers funds for personal expenses in the years since he founded the far-right group in 2009. With Rhodes testifying in his own defense at his seditious conspiracy trial, federal prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy asked him whether he had been "living off the Oath Keepers for the last decade."
"As I testified, I draw a salary," Rhodes answered. Rhodes went on to acknowledge "falling-outs" with the Oath Keepers board, including the resignation of one member over concerns about his spending of group funds.
He confirmed that he paid for travel, meals, and firearms with Oath Keepers funds but claimed not to remember using the group's money to visit family over the holidays in late 2020 — just weeks before the Capitol attack.
"Um ... don't recall," he said.
Rakoczy then pressed him, asking if he'd tapped into Oath Keepers funds "quite a bit" 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 a cross-examination that came on the heels of the Oath Keepers founder taking the risky step of testifying in his own defense. At another point in her questioning, she appeared to assert that Rhodes had not paid personal income taxes from 2008 to 2020, drawing an objection that Judge Amit Mehta granted.
"There's plenty to cross-examine him about. I don't think that's necessary," Mehta said.
Rhodes is standing trial alongside four other Oath Keepers members — Kelly Meggs; Kenneth Harrelson; Jessica Watkins; and Thomas Caldwell — on charges they plotted to violently prevent the peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.
In the weekslong trial, prosecutors have presented evidence of Rhodes attempting to urge Trump to take more drastic action to remain in power and prevent the certification of Biden's victory. Prosecutors have also shown video footage of Oath Keepers members entering the Capitol in military-style stack formations, and they have presented other evidence that the group stockpiled firearms in a hotel room outside Washington, DC, for so-called "quick reaction" forces that could be deployed on January 6.
The high-profile trial has featured the most serious charge — seditious conspiracy — the Justice Department has brought in the wave of nearly 900 prosecutions stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol. But it has also shed light on the history and finances of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group that explicitly focuses on recruiting current and former law enforcement, military, and first-responder personnel.
On the witness stand, wearing a suit and eye patch, Rhodes distanced himself from the violence of January 6. Rhodes, who remained outside the Capitol, testified that he thought it was "stupid" for Oath Keepers members to enter the building.
Entering the Capitol, he said, was "not our mission."
"It opened the door for our political enemies to persecute us, and that's what happened," he added. "Here we are."
As he did on Friday, when he initially took the stand, Rhodes attempted to paint the Oath Keepers as a service-minded group that provided protection during protests and social unrest but did not condone violence.
But, in questioning that examined the Oath Keepers' more than decade-long history, Rakoczy sought to poke holes in Rhodes' presentation of the group. She noted Rhodes' rhetoric and the location where he founded the group: Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the "shot heard 'round the world" that started the American Revolution.
From the Oath Keepers' founding, the group was focused on "forceful opposition to the government, isn't that right?" Rakoczy asked.
"That's not correct," Rhodes responded.
Rakoczy later displayed a photograph of an Oath Keepers member carrying guns on the roof of a business during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police. In her questioning, she also noted that the Oath Keepers provided ammunition for AR-15 rifles during the 2014 standoff at the Bundy Ranch.
For Rakoczy, Rhodes' preferred image of the Oath Keepers was belied by his own messages with fellow members. In one planning message, in late 2021, Rhodes recalled walking through the streets of Portland, Oregon, during the social unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis police.
"I was quote/unquote unarmed, but I had my helmet in my hand. Guess what that was for? That was to whack someone right across the face if they're going to come at me. So," he wrote.
In another message before January 6, Rhodes wrote: "Trump has one last chance, right now, to stand. But he will need us and our rifles too. But will he FINALLY Act?"
Rhodes testified that, on January 6, he took a hands-off approach and delegated decision-making to team leaders.
When Rakoczy asked if the buck stopped with him on January 6, he replied, "Not when they do something off-mission, I'm not in charge."
"Well that's convenient," Rakoczy said.