Oath Keepers leader issues warning to Trump amid ex-president’s legal woes

Stewart Rhodes says prosecutors will target Mr Trump with the same legal theories that led to him facing 18 years in prison

Stewart Rhodes, the disbarred attorney and founder of the far-right extremist group known as the Oath Keepers, believes the strategy prosecutors used to convict him on rarely used seditious conspiracy charges will be repeated by special counsel Jack Smith in a future trial of former president Donald Trump.

In a jailhouse interview with the Washington Times, Rhodes, who in May was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his group’s role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, predicted that prosecutors are “going to do the same thing to President Trump that they did to [him]” on charges relating to the same violent attack.

Mr Smith, a former head of the Department of Justice public integrity section who was given control of several DOJ probes into Mr Trump last November, has already obtained a 37-count indictment against Mr Trump for his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information.

Sources familiar with the special counsel’s efforts have told The Independent that Mr Smith is also prepared to bring what is known as a “superseding indictment” — a second set of charges against an already-indicted defendant that could include more serious crimes — against the ex-president in the Southern District of Florida. His team has made preparations to add an “additional 30 to 45 charges” in addition to the 37-count indictment brought against Mr Trump on 8 June, either in a superseding indictment in the same Florida court or in a different federal judicial district.

The former war crimes prosecutor has also been supervising a probe focusing on Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and remain in office against the wishes of voters.

The Independent has learned that multiple members of Mr Trump’s inner circle have given evidence before a grand jury in Washington or have met with prosecutors to offer information, including Mr Trump’s ex-personal lawyer,  former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. It is understood that Mr Giuliani’s “proffer” session with prosecutors dealt mainly with Mr Trump’s machinations during that time period as he sought to find a way to remain in the White House for a second term, and a source has said the disgraced former US attorney will almost certainly face charges in the coming weeks.

Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, suggested in his interview with the Times that prosecutors are working diligently to get the ex-president’s confidantes to give evidence against him.

“You’re going to get railroaded. You’re going to be found guilty if you try to go to trial. So everyone’s been demoralised and more likely to take a plea deal and agree to ‘test-a-lie’ against President Trump,” he said.

The ex-Army paratrooper added that Mr Trump could still be convicted of seditious conspiracy charges in the same way he was, despite the fact neither he nor the ex-president entered the Capitol on the day of the attack.

“I didn’t enter the Capitol, but I was still found guilty by a DC jury of obstructing an official proceeding even though I didn’t even go inside,” he said. “And I was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, although they had zero evidence of an actual plan. They just used my speech. It will be the same thing with President Trump”.