Opening Statements Heard In Oath Keepers Sedition Trial

WASHINGTON (AP) – Prosecutors are saying at the opening of the most serious case to reach trial in the attack on the U.S. Capitol that the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates planned for an “armed rebellion” to stop the transfer of presidential power. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler delivered his opening statement Monday in Washington’s federal court in the trial of Stewart Rhodes and others charged with seditious conspiracy. They are accused of a weekslong plot to stop the transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. An attorney for Rhodes argued that prosecutors built their case on cherry-picked evidence like messages and videos and Oath Keepers were not involved with violence during the riot.