Jan. 6 convicted Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes to Trump: 'You're going to get railroaded'

The Oath Keepers militia leader sentenced to 18 years in prison for his actions in the Jan. 6 riot — which he characterizes as big talk, not action — has a warning for former President Trump: You're next.

"You’re going to get railroaded" judging by how prosecutors treated Stewart Rhodes, convicted of seditious conspiracy despite never entering the Capitol or having "an actual plan" for insurrection to which prosecutors could point, he told The Washington Times from the D.C. Department of Corrections Central Detention Facility, where he's kept in isolation.

"You’re going to be found guilty if you try to go to trial," Rhodes said. "So everyone’s been demoralized and more likely to take a plea deal, and agree to ‘test-a-lie’ against President Trump."

Special Counsel Jack Smith is pursuing Trump through a 37-count federal indictment in Florida federal court for holding classified documents at his private Mar-a-Lago club, as well as investigating the former president's role in the Capitol riot and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Rhodes predicted federal prosecutors will threaten Trump's witnesses with life in prison to make them turn on him, just as they pressured fellow Oath Keepers to testify against Rhodes and other militia members who received terms of 36 to 54 months in prison.

He referred to the civil litigation by House Democrats accusing the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani of conspiracy to incite the Jan. 6 riot, which preceded the criminal case.

"The civil cases are the obvious narrative setting and the precursor to the criminal cases. The criminal cases are only meant to make it all true," Rhodes said.