Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy for January 6 roles

Four members of the far-right group Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy on Monday, delivering another victory for the US Justice Department as it aims to prosecute those involved in the January 6 insurrection.

The convictions of David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo come about two months after Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Seditious conspiracy is a law prohibiting people from attempting to overthrow the US government. It carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Three other members of the group were found not guilty of the charge during Rhodes's trial, though they were convicted of obstructing Congress from certifying an election.

The convicted Oath Keepers members and other supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in 2021 in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

More than 950 people have been charged since the attack.

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and other members of the far-right group are currently on trial facing similar conspiracy charges.

A separate jury earlier on Monday convicted the man who was photographed propping his feet on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk during the 2021 attack.

Richard “Bigo” Barnett was convicted of obstructing Congress's certification of the election, illegally entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon.

Richard Barnett is seen propping his feet on the desk of Nancy Pelosi inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. AFP

After the attack, Barnett was quoted by the media as saying: “I put a quarter on her desk even though she ain’t [expletive] worth it. And I left her a note on her desk that says, 'Nancy, Bigo was here, you [expletive].'”

Obstruction of an official proceeding carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Agencies contributed to this report

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.