Joshua James, one of those charged with seditious conspiracy in connection to the Capitol riot, has pleaded guilty to the offense — the first to do so, and he has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors through means including potential testimony in front of a grand jury. James is involved with the violent, far-right group known as the Oath Keepers, whose founder and leader, Stewart Rhodes, has also been charged with seditious conspiracy tied to the Capitol attack. James’s plea agreement — which also features an admission to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding — directly implicates Rhodes in pushes to potentially use violence, including lethal force, to keep Trump in power.
MAJOR BREAKING NEWS (CNN): Oath Keeper Joshua James Pleads Guilty to Seditious Conspiracy, Meaning That We Can Now Say with Certainty That January 6 Was a Seditious Conspiracy
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 3, 2022
Federal Judge Amit Mehta outlined sentencing guidelines for James that call for from 87 to 108 months in prison — which works out to somewhere between a little over seven and nine years in jail. James’s sentencing date has not been scheduled in light of his agreement to cooperate; holding off on that portion of the proceedings will allow James to provide information to investigators in the meantime. As for what James originally did, he helped provide personal security for longtime Trump ally Roger Stone at the January 6 rally in D.C. that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol. But there was more: in the language of the plea deal, James admitted that Rhodes “instructed [him] and others to be prepared and called upon to… use lethal force if necessary” in their efforts to keep Trump in the White House. Members of the Oath Keepers believed in the possibility of Trump invoking a federal law known as the Insurrection Act, which allows presidents to call up militias. They were prepared to be such a militia.
Joshua James, an Oath Keeper, will plead guilty to two felonies related to his actions around Jan. 6: seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding.
James is the first Jan. 6 defendant charged with seditious conspiracy to plead guilty. @NBCNews— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 3, 2022
James was originally also charged with offenses including assaulting or impeding police, but prosecutors dropped that charge in the formulation of his plea deal. After the violence at the Capitol, James participated in what The Washington Post summarized as a “celebration dinner” with Rhodes at a Virginia location. At a later point, Rhodes brought up a video showing James physically confronting an officer at the Capitol, and according to the plea deal, “Rhodes expressed gratitude for James’s actions and told James to alter his physical appearance to conceal his identity.” He “then spent several weeks with Rhodes in Texas, where he said they gathered weapons, burner phones and tactical gear,” the Post summarizes. These people were prepared for further violence after the Capitol attack.
Here it comes. Plea agreement hearing is beginning in a Jan 6 OathKeepers seditious conspiracy case. Joshua James of Alabama .. who is a co-defendant of Stewart Rhodes
Standby
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 2, 2022
In a separate matter, Mehta has concluded that the argument could be made — whether or not it’s proven — that Trump entered into a conspiracy of sorts with these people, considering the reasonable likelihood that the then-president would have been aware that his calls for action would be carried out in such a way. He certainly doesn’t seem to have been shocked by what happened — he’s been reported to have watched television coverage of the violence as it unfolded, as though reveling in it. As the judge put it, allowing civil litigation against Trump for his role in inciting the riot to proceed, “It is reasonable to infer that the President knew that these were militia groups and that they were prepared to partake in violence for him… The President thus plausibly would have known that a call for violence would be carried out by militia groups and other supporters.”
The facts we’ve gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman’s emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) March 3, 2022
