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Oath Keepers founder's estranged wife 'beyond happy' for his Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy conviction: 'I am thrilled that he's finally facing justice.'

Tasha Adams Stewart Rhodes
Tasha Adams/AP

  • Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy on Tuesday.
  • It's the most significant charge related to the January 6, 2021, attack.
  • Rhodes' estranged wife told Insider she was happy with the conviction.
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Tasha Adams, the estranged wife of Oath Keepers' founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, was "thrilled" to learn of her husband's conviction related to the January 6 Capitol riot on Tuesday.

A federal jury in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, convicted Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, another member of the Oath Keepers militia group, of seditious conspiracy to prevent the inauguration of President Joe Biden — a plot that led to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

It's the most significant verdict to have come out of the wide range of ongoing criminal investigations and trials related to the riot.

"I am beyond happy," Adams told Insider. "He has absolutely never had to face a consequence in his entire life. This will be the very first time. He's spent his life making others pay; this was past due for him."

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Adams previously told Insider about Rhodes' temper and physical and emotional abusive tendencies against some of their six children.

The two met in Las Vegas in 1991 and married three years later. Throughout their relationship, Adams said Rhodes was controlling and often snapped at her and the children.

"He just viciously pushed every psychological button after just the slightest request of him," Adams said, adding that he would also grab their children's upper arms or hit them while no one was looking.

When Rhodes was arrested in January, Adams said she felt relief knowing that Rhodes was behind bars. With Rhodes' conviction on Tuesday, Adams now feels her husband is facing proper repercussions.

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"I am thrilled that he's finally facing justice," she said.

Rhodes' and Meggs' convictions are a significant outcome for the Justice Department as it marks the first time prosecutors convinced a jury the violence at that Capitol was the result of an organized plot.

Michael McDaniel, Director of Homeland Law at Cooley Law School, told Insider proving the riot was a conspiracy comes with major hurdles.

"You have to have an agreement to carry out a criminal act. Secondly, it has to be criminal, it has to be illegal. Third, you have to knowingly participate," McDaniels said. "The prosecutor has to prove that the individuals who have been indicted now knew that this was an activity on behalf of everybody involved. And then there has to be some overt act, you have to be advancing the goal of the conspiracy."

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On top of their seditious conspiracy convictions, Rhodes and Meggs were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding. Three other members of the far-right militia group were convicted on Tuesday of obstruction, but they were found not guilty of conspiracy.

A sentencing date was not determined. When examining the case against members of the Proud Boys who were also charged with seditious conspiracy, McDaniel said they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. 

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