Judge Dismisses Oath Keepers Conspiracy Case Against Rhodes

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has dismissed the conspiracy case against Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, and several other key members of the group, closing out the government's marquee prosecution tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Mehta dismissed the case reluctantly, according to NPR, after the Justice Department under the Trump administration moved to vacate the convictions and drop the case.

Juries had previously convicted Rhodes and five other defendants of attempting to overthrow the government through force, conduct that prosecutors said contributed to the violence and chaos as rioters breached the Capitol. The dismissal marks the conclusion of prosecutors' efforts to hold President Trump's supporters accountable for the siege.

The ruling came as two other political fights unfolded in Washington and Michigan.

A Senate committee was expected to vote on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. The retired health official, who directed the federal government's coronavirus response, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a hearing last week and declined to answer lawmakers' questions. Fauci has repeatedly clashed with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the days before the hearing, Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's private diary entries, accusing him of concealing his uncertainty about the pandemic's cause. The vote followed the Senate's confirmation of Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Senate primary and will face Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in November for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. A Republican has not won a Senate race in Michigan since the 1990s, said Colin Jackson of Michigan Public Radio. El-Sayed built a younger coalition campaigning with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and now must win over the Black, working-class and Jewish voters Stevens relied on. Republican groups have already committed at least $45 million against him. Rogers has called El-Sayed a communist and an extremist, charges El-Sayed calls baseless.