The federal judge who presided over the seditious conspiracy trial of the founder of the far-right Oath stewart rhodes Washington is locked in a battle with Washington, D.C.'s new interim top federal prosecutor over whether Rhodes and his co-defendants should be allowed to speak in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Capitol about President Trump's commute of their sentences.
District Court Judge Amit Mehta administered the oath on Friday and ordered members Rhodes, kelly meggskenneth harrelson, jessica watkinsRoberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Morchel, and Joseph Hackett—all of whom were convicted and are serving multi-year prison sentences—were blocked from entering Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Capitol building. ,
On Monday, as part of his mass pardon of those tied to the January 6 Capitol attack, Mr. Trump pardoned more than 1,500 defendants and commuted the sentences of Rhodes, his co-defendants and some members of the House of Representatives. proud boys Groups that were also accused seditious conspiracyAll of those who received commutations were ultimately convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy.
The decision to pardon the defendants and commute their sentencing cleared Rhodes' case for potential inspection by Mehta and the federal court system.
Washington, D.C. Acting U.S. Attorney for Trump Eli Edward Martin pushed back against the judge's order, writing the defendants are “no longer subject to the terms of supervised release and probation.”
“The Court may not modify the conditions of supervised release,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Martin's office now leads all of the Capitol breach prosecutions and has brought charges against more than 1,500 defendants.
After receiving the commutation, Rhodes and other January 6 defendants appeared on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
In a statement, Martin said, “If a judge ruled that Jim Biden, Gen. Mark Milley, or any other individual were prohibited from visiting the U.S. Capitol—even with a last-minute request from the former president… , even after receiving a pre-emptive pardon—I believe most Americans will object.