Rhodes' rhetoric grew more desperate

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The defendants all argued they were in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to provide security to high-profile, pro-Trump attendees at various rallies and render first aid to protesters when needed. Evidence presented both before and during the trial revealed the Oath Keepers did act as security details to Trump-allied figures like Roger Stone and attended multiple pro-Trump rallies before the election.

A Yale Law School graduate, Rhodes was the alleged leader of the conspiracy, prosecutors said, calling him the "architect" of the plan who penned open letters to Trump urging him to try to hold onto power. Rhodes, in a letter and subsequent communications called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, a centuries-old law that called for the armed defense of the government by a militia.

In the months before the Jan. 6 attack, prosecutors alleged and buy phone number list violent, calling on Trump to invoke the act to enable an armed resistance against a rogue government.

"It will be 1776 all over again," Rhodes allegedly wrote in an Oath Keepers leadership message group. "Force on force is the way to go." He was not accused of actually entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Trump never invoked the act and none of the defendants were accused of weapons crimes, which were two key defenses employed throughout the trial.

Two former members of the Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty to charges related to the attack told the jury that they were participants in the alleged conspiracy. Jason Dolan, a member of the Florida contingent, testified he was ready to "take up arms and fight back" against a rogue government and Graydon Young, also from Florida, said that he and three of the defendants who entered the Capitol saw themselves as participants in a "Bastille-type moment," a "momentous" event in the history of an unfolding revolution.