Washington Post: “The Oath Keepers group is a major target of the sprawling FBI investigation into the riot at the U.S. Capitol, along with another militant group, the Proud Boys, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. How aggressively the Justice Department pursues such extremists will be a major test not only of the Biden administration’s pledge to combat domestic terrorism, but also the law and the courts. Twelve alleged Oath Keepers members or associates have already been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 riot. In court documents, the group’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, is usually referred to not by name but as ‘Person One.'”

“The people familiar with the case said agents are working to see if a conspiracy case can be made against Rhodes and other senior members of the group. Rhodes, who once worked as a congressional staffer for former libertarian congressman Ron Paul, was in Washington on Jan. 6 but insists he did not tell his members to attack Congress, and did not want them to. The Oath Keepers members who allegedly went into the U.S. Capitol ‘went totally off mission,’ Rhodes said this week in an interview. ‘There was a bunch of chaos. And I wanted to make sure my guys didn’t get into trouble… some of them had gone stupid and jumped inside the Capitol.’ Asked if he expected to be charged with a crime, Rhodes said: ‘I don’t know.’ He contended that prosecutors ‘are trying to manufacture a nonexistent conspiracy. I didn’t say, ‘Don’t enter the Capitol.’ I never figured they would do that.'”