Prosecutors’ challenge in Capitol riot probe: The Oath Keeper who didn’t go inside

The Justice Department has brought charges against more than 400 people who stormed the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, but one of its most pivotal potential cases involves a man who never set foot inside the building. On Jan. 4, prosecutors say, Rhodes posted an article on the group’s website urging “patriots” to descend on Washington to “stand tall in support of President Trump’s fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup.” In indictments and court filings, federal prosecutors detailed Rhodes’ role in encouraging and organizing Oath Keepers’ activities in Washington and his communications with his members before, during and after the siege, which left five people dead and scores of others injured. In accusing the 12 Oath Keepers of conspiring on Jan. 6, prosecutors alleged in court papers that Rhodes and Oath Keepers engaged in a long-running group discussion on an encrypted app, Signal, in which they “were activating plans to use force on January 6.” “Prior to the operation,” prosecutors wrote, Rhodes and the other Oath Keepers “discussed topics such as what kind of weapons to bring, using handheld radios to communicate during the January 6 operation and, according to Person One, the existence of ‘several well equipped QRFs outside DC’ ” and “many, many others, from other groups, who will be watching and waiting on the outside in case of worst case scenarios.” Prosecutors said a QRF was what the group called a “Quick Reaction Force” of heavily armed men and women stationed in jurisdictions that did not have Washington’s strict gun laws. Rhodes came to Washington on Jan. 5 and helped oversee security Oath Keepers provided for various Trump associates at the next day’s Stop the Steal rally and associated events, according to associates and court filings. After Trump’s rally on the Ellipse — in which the former president urged his followers to “fight like hell” for him — Rhodes and other Oath Keepers headed to the Capitol.