The India-born U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia, Amit Mehta, has given a dressing down to the founder of a far-right anti-government militia group accused of unlawfully entering the Capitol Building during the January 6 insurrection.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Mehta chastised the founder of the so-called “Oath Keepers” organization, Stewart Rhodes, for his part in the incident. Mehta stated that “violence, sedition and insurrection” needed to be held to account. He also noted that Rhodes had been “besmirching the good name of the many veterans and former law enforcement officers” who are members of the group.
Mehta continued, saying that “the way to show honor to those good and decent people who faithfully execute their duty is not by flagrantly violating the law and usurping the power of law enforcement, which lays on your hands.”
The judge said that the only way to make amends for this was for Rhodes and the Oath Keepers as an organization to “publicly repudiate its troubled past”.