Oath Keepers trial tests whether extremists can be called up as 'private army' by an authoritarian president

Opening arguments begin today in federal court in Washington, DC in the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates on charges of seditious conspiracy.

Among the hundreds of defendants charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, the Oath Keepers prosecution is the most significant to date. The far-right militia group founded in 2009 assembled a group largely comprised of military veterans in tactical gear who breached the Capitol in two separate...