Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in relation to the Jan. 6 riot, was in the Capitol complex on Wednesday to meet with GOP lawmakers — shortly after getting out of prison because President Trump commuted his sentence.
Rhodes was spotted in the Dunkin’ Donuts inside Longworth House Office Building, which is accessible to the public, with a group of people. He said he did not go into the actual Capitol building.
Rhodes said he was advocating for the release of Jeremy Brown, another Oath Keeper who is in prison on federal weapons charges stemming from an investigation into his alleged involvement in the riot.
Rhodes said Brown was not included in Trump’s sweeping pardon of 1,600 people arrested in connection to the rampage and he went to the Capitol with Brown’s family members. He said that no members of Congress invited him to the Capitol specifically.
“We’re advocating members of Congress, advocating that he be given a pardon also,” Rhodes told reporters.
Also accompanying Rhodes was Ivan Raiklin, a retired Green Beret who created an “operation Pence Card” memo which outlined a theory about how then-Vice President Pence could disqualify electoral votes for then President-elect Biden, which Trump retweeted.
Rhodes and Raiklin said they met with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), who represents Brown, about advocating for his release.
A spokeswoman for Bilirakis confirmed the meeting, saying: “Congressman Bilirakis met with Jeremy Brown’s mother and girlfriend. Mr. Rhodes joined them.”
Raiklin also said that they briefly talked to Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) on Tuesday – but that the interaction was a quick hallway run-in.
“It was a very short conversation, believe me. It was not a meeting,” Self told The Hill. As for the Brown case, Self said he did not know enough about the case to decide whether he would advocate for Brown’s release.
Rhodes, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison, said he did not regret the actions that led to his conviction.
“I didn’t go into the Capitol. I didn’t tell anybody else to go inside. We’re here to do security for two permitted events on Capitol grounds,” Rhodes said. “I regret that my guys went in. They blundered in along with everybody else. It doesn’t make them criminals. It just makes me kind of stupid.”
In the days after the Capitol attack, Rhodes said that “My only regret is they should have brought rifles,” and that he would “hang [f******] Pelosi from the lamppost.”
Rhodes said that he regretted that comment when asked about it Wednesday.
“I do regret that. I was drunk and pissed off,” Rhodes said. But he noted it was “after the fact” and “I’m not proposing anything, I’m just being pissed off.”
And he is still hoping for a full pardon for himself and the 13 other Jan. 6 commutations from Trump, but said he has not talked to anyone from the Trump administration. He also said he did not receive a Capitol tour from anyone, and had not been inside the Capitol since 1999.
Rhodes’ presence in the Capitol sent shockwaves through staff in the complex.
At one point, a woman who said she was staffer but declined to identify herself went up to Rhodes as he was speaking to reporters and said he should not be here.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the woman said. “You are welcome [to] First Amendment free speech, but it is disrespectful … please tell your story elsewhere.”
Rhodes told reporters that the woman believed that “certain people, in her mind, don’t deserve free speech and should be wiped off the face of the planet when it comes to their free speech.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who was on the Jan. 6 select committee, also had a quip about Stewart Rhodes being in the Capitol building.
“I think it’s new and interesting that they’re using the front door this time,” Agulair said, according to The Associated Press.
