Washington — Of the more than 870 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, 17 were charged with seditious conspiracy, the highest felony for using force to prevent a peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump. Trump to Joe Biden.

Members of the ultra-right police group “Oath Keepers” – including the founder of the group Stuart Rhodes — were charged with this crime, the most serious of all those charged in the January 6 case. They will be the first group to go to trial on charges. Jury selection begins on Tuesday.

Rhodes, Texas; associates Kelly Maggs and Kenneth Harrelson of Florida; Jessica Watkins of Ohio; and Thomas Caldwell of Virginia will challenge Justice Department prosecutors with a consistent record judge and jury to find the defendants on Jan. 6 at trial. Only one defendant in the case of January 6, he is still fully acquitted of the charges brought against him in court.

Members of Oath Keepers are accused of conspiring to prevent Congress from approving the results of the 2020 presidential election in support of Trump, traveling to the nation’s capital ahead of Jan. 6, and coordinating their movement during the riots.

The government argues, and will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the group’s planning, communication, and coordination were vital components of the chaos that occurred that day and were intended to obstruct the lawful business of Congress.

Rhodes, who is not accused of actually breaking into the Capitol building, and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty and have made various unsuccessful attempts to get their charges dismissed and delay the trial next year, even weeks before the trial.

Rhodes, the group’s founder and leader, was charged with sedition in January described as an anti-government extremist group, is accused of laying the groundwork for its actions back in November 2020, allegedly by publishing a “Call to Action” on its website.

Prosecutors wrote in the indictment that by December, Rhodes’ rhetoric encouraged violence, allegedly telling fellow jurors that if Mr. Biden took office, “it would be a bloody and desperate struggle. We will have to fight.”

Meggs and Rhodes allegedly wrote in messages on Christmas Day 2020 that they would need to “intimidate” members of Congress to succeed, and days later, Caldwell scouted a Washington, D.C. hotel area for the group’s use, court documents allege.

At the hotel, prosecutors said, the group organized a “QRF,” a so-called rapid response force, storing weapons and other materials outside the city limits of Washington, D.C. And by January, according to court documents, Caldwell allegedly mapped out a route between the group’s hotel and the Capitol building.

On the morning of Jan. 6, after the defendants left for the Washington area, prosecutors say some of the group went into the city wearing combat clothing and tactical gear. Later, as the attack on the Capitol took place and the group allegedly coordinated with messaging apps and radio stations, Rhodes is said to have described the rioters as “patriots.”

Two separate groups of Oath Keepers then allegedly made their way into the Capitol building.

Maggs, Harrelson and Watkins are accused of being part of a group that marched through the east side of the Capitol, eventually joining a crowd that allegedly opposed law enforcement and later sought out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rhodes and Caldwell were allegedly on the Capitol grounds around that time.

A second group of Oath Keepers who allegedly violated the Capitol were also charged with seditious conspiracy and will go on trial next month.

Prosecutors say that in the weeks after the attack, Rhodes bought firearms and told others that he was continuing to oppose Mr. Biden’s presidency, including through the alleged use of “local militias.”

The accused presented many arguments in defense of their actions and denied their guilt on January 6.

Some of the defendants in the Oath Keepers group, who are accused of a sedition plot, claimed that they were in D.C. not to attack the Capitol, but to provide security for some high-ranking figures in the former president’s camp. Text messages released an April court filing revealed they were asked to serve as bodyguards for Trump associate Roger Stone and Stop Theft organizer Ali Alexander.

“Ken Harrelson spent 569 days in solitary confinement in horrific conditions for a crime he did not commit,” Bradford L. Geyer, Harrelson’s attorney, said in a statement to CBS News. “We look forward to proving his innocence of these false allegations.”

A special House committee investigating Jan. 6 will hold its ninth hearing Wednesday as some attorneys express concern that publicity surrounding the ongoing hearings could taint jurors and prevent a fair trial, and voluminous evidence in the case could withhold defendant lawyers from creating an effective case for their clients without excessive preparation time.

Attorneys for Rhodes, Megan, Watkins and Caldwell did not respond to requests for comment ahead of the hearing.

Judge Amit Mehta, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2014 by President Barack Obama, will preside over the jury trial, which is expected to last several weeks. The judge said he plans to interview about 150 potential jurors to form a panel of twelve qualified, impartial jurors to hear the evidence. He dismissed concerns from the defendants that finding a fair jury would be difficult and rejected attempts to move the trial out of D.C., citing past trials on Jan. 6 that had taken place.

At Mehta’s direction, the jury will be semi-closed, meaning they will convene each day in an undisclosed location before being bussed into court, entering through a secured door to avoid public and media attention. Like jurors in any other trial, they will be ordered to avoid media coverage of the trial and prohibited from conducting their own independent research.

After indicting a group of five people and their co-defendants in a seditious conspiracy, the Justice Department overturned three individuals associated with the Oath Keepers, securing guilty pleas and entering into cooperation agreements. One of the people, North Carolina Other Keepers leader William Wilson, told prosecutors that on the evening of Jan. 6, Rhodes repeatedly asked an unnamed person by phone “to tell President Trump to call on groups like Oath Keepers to forcefully oppose the transfer of power.”

If convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy, Rodas and his co-defendants face up to 20 years in prison.

Earlier this month, attorney Kelly Sorrell, who led the Oath Guard following Rhodes’ arrest, was arrested and charged with her own charges related to the Jan. 6 violation. She pleaded not guilty and denied guilt.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oath-keepers-stewart-rhodes-jan-6-trial/