DOJ unveils explosive sedition charges against the Oath Keepers for the Jan. 6 attack

The U.S. Dept. of Justice raised the stakes one year and one week after the violent and deadly January 6 insurrection, filing charges of seditious conspiracy against eleven people including the leader of the far right anti-government vigilante group Oath Keepers and ten others, CNN reports.

A D.C. grand jury “returned an indictment yesterday, which was unsealed today, charging 11 defendants with seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election,” the Dept. of Justice said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

According to court documents, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 56, of Granbury, Texas, who is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers; and Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, are being charged for the first time in connection with events leading up to and including Jan. 6. Rhodes was arrested this morning in Little Elm, Texas, and Vallejo was arrested this morning in Phoenix.

Nine others including eight members of the Oath Keepers, all of whom have been charged previously, had seditious conspiracy charges added.

READ: Michigan Republicans who circulated fake 'Electoral College' documents are being investigated by the Jan. 6 committee: report

Seditious conspiracy charges carry a maximum of 20 years in jail.