On Tuesday, The Epoch Times reported that Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers militia group, and Kelly Meggs were guilty of seditious conspiracy. Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell—were acquitted of that charge.

The article notes:

In closing arguments, defense attorneys said the government failed to prove that the Oath Keepers planned to attack the Capitol or to interfere with the certification of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

A defense lawyer said that none of the 50 witnesses in the Oath Keepers trial testified that they heard any of the defendants discuss or plan to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

However, in the final rebuttal, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said that according to the jury instructions (pdf), the government did not have to prove that the defendants had a detailed plan to breach the Capitol and meet in person to discuss their alleged scheme. An implicit agreement and mutual understanding were enough to prove the defendants’ conspiracy, he said.

The article notes another problem with this case:

James Bright, the attorney for Rhodes, asked the jury how the Oath Keepers could conspire as early as November 2020 to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, if the Jan. 6 rally wasn’t announced until late December 2020.

The  attorney that expressed the idea that “the government did not have to prove that the defendants had a detailed plan to breach the Capitol and meet in person to discuss their alleged scheme and that an implicit agreement and mutual understanding were enough to prove the defendants’ conspiracy” needs to get reacquainted with the concept of innocent until proven guilty. The trial was held before a federal jury in Washington, D.C. I don’t know if the results would have been different in a different venue, but this looks like a show trial to me.