Ex-leader of Oath Keepers forbidden from entering Washington DC by judge

A federal judge on Friday forbade Stewart Rhodes, the former leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group, and some other January 6 defendants from the 2021 attack on Congress from entering Washington DC, as well as the US Capitol within, as a condition of their release from prison.

Rhodes, a former attorney who founded the militia group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2023 for his role in plotting the breach of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump intent on overturning his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Biden’s victory was certified in the early hours of the following day after lawmakers ran for their lives as the mob rampaged through the Capitol and tried to hunt some down, leading to the an enormous federal criminal investigation.

Rhodes was among 1,500 controversially given blanket pardons or commutations by Trump soon after he was sworn in as the 47th president last Monday. He commuted Rhodes’s sentence of 18 years for seditious conspiracy and the far-right leader left prison early on Tuesday and was later spotted drinking coffee on Capitol Hill.

More details soon …

Reuters contributed reporting