Stewart Rhodes

Elmer Stewart Rhodes III was born in Fresno, California, in 1966.[3][4] His father was a U.S. Marine and his mother worked on a farm.[4] Rhodes wrote about his father abandoning his mother and him when he was three years old, and that he grew up with his mother and her Mexican-American family.[5] Rhodes has described himself as "mixed-race" and has "American-Indian" and Hispanic maternal ancestors.[3]

Rhodes attended high school in Las Vegas, then joined the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged after seven months, the result of a spinal injury sustained during airborne school.[6][3][4][7]

After attending community college,[5] Rhodes switched to studying political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, while parking cars to make money.[8] After graduating in 1998,[4] he worked as a staffer for Republican Congressman Ron Paul.[7]

In 2001, aged 35 years,[5] Rhodes enrolled in Yale Law School,[9] where he was noted as a defender of gun rights. He became dissatisfied with what he perceived as eroding rights in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.[4] Rhodes taught a self-defense class,[4] and his research paper about enemy combatants' classification during the presidency of George W. Bush won an award in his final year at Yale.[4] He graduated in 2004.[3]

After graduating from Yale, Rhodes clerked for Michael D. Ryan, an associate justice at the Arizona Supreme Court.[4] As a lawyer, he worked in various western U.S. states.[10]

On December 8, 2015, Rhodes was disbarred by the Montana Supreme Court for conduct violating the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct, after refusing to respond to two bar grievances filed against him in the federal district court of Arizona.[11][12]

Rhodes (right) with Brian D. Hill (left) and Alex Jones (center), 2012

Rhodes founded the Oath Keepers in March 2009.[13][14][15] The organization was launched in Lexington, Massachusetts, at the location of the first American Revolutionary War battle.[10] The launch occurred two months into the presidency of Barack Obama.[8]

Under his leadership in 2013, the Oath Keepers instructed its members to form "Citizen Preservation" teams, which included militias, to operate in communities across the US meant to defend citizens against the government intentionally letting the country descend into chaos then declaring martial law and scrapping the constitution, stating that "They are preparing to control and contain us, and to shoot us, but not preparing to feed us."[16][17][3]

Rhodes has collaborated with anti-government groups the Tenth Amendment Center and the Northwest Patriots.[3] The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies him as an "extremist".[18]

Attack on United States Capitol

Main articles: Planning of the January 6 United States Capitol attack § Oath Keepers; Oath Keepers § Participation in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack; and January 6 United States Capitol attack

January 6 United States Capitol attack
A gallows (top) and a crowd of attackers amid a cloud of tear gas (bottom) outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021
Timeline • Planning
Background
2020 presidential election and other causes 2020–21 presidential election protests 2021 Electoral College vote count (alternate electors) Attempts to overturn the election Democratic backsliding in the US QAnon Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of election fraud Social media use by Donald Trump Trumpism
Related groups and persons Ali Alexander Ray Epps Nick Fuentes Rudy Giuliani Jericho March Alex Jones Sedition Caucus Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr.
Participants
Notable people Ashli Babbitt Joe Biggs Jacob Chansley Derrick Evans Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet Simone Gold Klete Keller Ethan Nordean Rick Saccone Jon Schaffer John Earle Sullivan
Organizations Boogaloo movement Groypers Oath Keepers Proud Boys Three Percenters
Law enforcement response Capitol Police Eugene Goodman Brian Sicknick Howard Liebengood Steven Sund Department of Defense Michael C. Stenger Paul D. Irving Christopher C. Miller Ryan D. McCarthy Walter E. Piatt Charles A. Flynn Daniel Hokanson William J. Walker DC National Guard DC Muriel Bowser Robert Contee Michael Fanone Jeffrey L. Smith Virginia Ralph Northam
Aftermath
Biden inauguration 2021 inauguration week protests Security preparations
Investigations and charges Justice Department investigation Criminal proceedings list January 6 commission House Select Committee public hearings Smith special counsel investigation federal prosecution of Donald Trump
Corporate actions List of companies that halted political contributions Social media suspensions of Donald Trump permanent suspension Suspensions of other social media accounts shutdown of Parler Facebook
Reactions Domestic Antifa culpability conspiracy theory International
Impeachment Second impeachment of Donald Trump trial

On November 7, 2020, after the election had been called as a win for Biden, Rhodes joined a Roger Stone text chat group asking "What’s the plan?"[20]

On December 12, 2020, Rhodes spoke at a Pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., along with speakers including Michael Flynn, Sebastian Gorka, Alex Jones, podcaster David Harris Jr., Nick Fuentes, and Mike Lindell.[21][22][23][24] Rhodes called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, and warned that not doing so would lead to a "much more bloody war."[24]

In the days prior to January 6, 2021, Rhodes and others traveled to Washington, D.C., where they armed themselves with firearms and tactical gear.[13] En route to D.C., Rhodes personally spent $20,000 to purchase "a small arsenal".[25] On January 6, 2021, Rhodes entered "restricted Capitol grounds" where he directed Oath Keepers members via telephone and text, telling them which positions to take up around the building.[26] Four days after the attack, Rhodes attended a meeting where he was recorded saying "My only regret is that they should have brought rifles... We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang fucking Pelosi from the lamppost."[27]

On January 13, 2022, Rhodes and nine other members of the Oath Keepers were arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy.[28] On November 29, 2022, after a nine-week trial, along with Kelly Meggs, Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering in regard to the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack.[29][19] Their conviction was the first for seditious conspiracy since 1995.[30] Prosecutors sought a 25-year sentence which included a terrorism sentencing enhancement.[31] On May 25, 2023, Rhodes received an 18-year sentence and Meggs received a 12-year sentence.[32][33][34] Although Rhodes's sentence was the longest handed down, as of that time, to any of the charged conspirators,[35] the Department of Justice on July 12, 2023, filed notice of its intention to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for longer terms for Rhodes and his co-defendants.[36] Rhodes, Meggs and the other convicted Oath Keepers have also filed their own appeals. If unsuccessful, they will be on three years' supervised release following their prison terms.[37] Rhodes is currently serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland.[38]

Rhodes married Tasha Adams in 1994, after meeting her a few years earlier in Las Vegas.[39][4] When they met, Adams was 18 years old and working at an Arthur Murray Dance studio, and Rhodes was a 25-year-old college student.[8] Adams worked as an exotic dancer to financially support Rhodes' education during their marriage.[8] Prior to their marriage, Rhodes accidentally shot himself in the face with a .22 handgun after dropping it, leaving him using a prosthetic eyeball.[4][8]

Adams filed for divorce in 2018, accusing Rhodes of emotional and physical abuse. The divorce was granted days before Rhodes' sentence for his part in the January 6 attack.[40] Adams and Rhodes have six children, including Dakota Adams, their eldest son,[10] Sequoia Adams, and Sedona Adams.[41] The family lived in New Haven and several states in the western United States.[10]

Rhodes volunteered for Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and later complained that political opponents of Paul linked Paul to hate groups and racists.[3] Rhodes is reported to have taken inspiration from the notion that Adolf Hitler could have been stopped if German soldiers and police had refused to follow orders.[42] He has stated that U.S. states can disregard federal laws, an assertion that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described as false.[43]

• Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack
• List of University of Nevada, Las Vegas, alumni
• List of Yale Law School alumni

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stewart Rhodes.

• Luke, Timothy W (2022). "Three Decades of Civil War in the United States: 'Don't Tread on Me'". Telos. 2022 (198): 141–148. doi:10.3817/0322198141. S2CID 247475451.
• Jackson, Sam (2020). Oath Keepers. doi:10.7312/jack19344. ISBN 978-0-231-55031-4. S2CID 240873360.