By Ryan J. Reilly - NBC News
The founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhode, was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in relation to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
"You, sir, pose a continuing threat and danger to this country, to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy," Judge Amit Mehta said before handing down the sentence, the harshest imposed to date for the assault on Congress.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November, along with Kelly Meggs, another Oath Keepers extremist who will be sentenced Thursday afternoon.
Stewart Rhodes speaks during a rally outside the White House.Susan Walsh/AP
"They will not fear us until we come with rifles in hand," Rhodes said in a message ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. After the assault, in a court recording played at the trial, he said his only regret was that "they should have brought rifles."
Rhodes and Meggs were tried alongside Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, fellow Oath Keepers members who were found guilty of obstruction of official proceedings and aiding and abetting, but not seditious conspiracy. Watkins and Harrelson will be sentenced Friday.
Rhodes took the stand in his case, saying that the other members of the Oath Keepers were "stupid" storming the Capitol and that he disagreed with those who entered; Rhodes did not enter the building. "I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was thinking about going in or going in," he said.
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But the government also reproduced messages in which Rhodes said he thought Jan. 6 was the last chance to stop what he saw as a government takeover.
"On the 6th they are going to put the final nail in the coffin of this Republic, unless we fight our way out. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6.
He also celebrated the actions of Oath Keepers immediately after the attack, after meeting with other members of the group at an Olive Garden in Virginia that night.
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"Patriots, it was a long day, but a day when patriots began to rise to their feet," Rhodes wrote on the evening of Jan. 6. "Stand up now or kneel forever. Honor your oaths. Remember his legacy."