Oath Keepers founder talked of hanging Pelosi in days after Jan. 6

by Brad Dress - 11/02/22 8:58 PM ET

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes reportedly said he wanted to hang U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “from the lamppost” in a recording obtained by the FBI and played during his trial this week.

In the Jan. 10, 2021, audio recording played by the FBI Wednesday in the trial against the far-right militia leader, Rhodes told members of his group that his “only regret is they should have brought rifles” to the riot on the Capitol four days earlier.

“We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I’d hang F–— Pelosi from the lamppost,” Rhodes said in the recording, according to CBS News.

The news comes after a man broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) San Francisco home last week and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.

The suspect, David DePape, faces state and federal charges for the assault. He reportedly shouted “Where is Nancy Pelosi?” when he entered the residence, seeking to break the speaker’s kneecaps as a warning to others in Congress.

President Biden noted last week that DePape’s calls for Pelosi was eerily similar to the chanting of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and broke into her office.

Other Jan. 6 rioters have been accused of wanting to kill the Democratic leader, including a woman who was seeking to shoot Pelosi and a man who wanted to drag her out of the Capitol.

Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers are charged with seditious conspiracy and are accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

All five defendants have pleaded not guilty and have claimed they were at the Capitol to provide security detail to former President Trump. Other members of the group have pleaded guilty.

Attorneys for Rhodes have also claimed the Oath Keepers were waiting on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, an old law that allows the president to call up armed forces to quell a domestic rebellion or disturbance.

The Oath Keepers trial began last month and could last for several more weeks.