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Trump's Oath Keepers: Convictions Just Vanished | #SistersInLaw
Posted
August 10, 2026
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August 10, 2026
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13:39Now PlayingBarb McQuade, Joyce Vance, and Jill dig into the quiet, radical final chapter of the January 6th prosecutions: the Justice Department's motion to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — the one group Trump didn't dare pardon outright on day one. Stuart Rhodes, the Yale-educated lawyer who led the Oath Keepers and armed a "Quick Reaction Force" to be ready for violence, was serving an 18-year sentence when Trump commuted it — he was free the next day. Now DOJ wants his conviction gone entirely, dismissed with prejudice, as if it never happened. The Sisters break down the legal difference between a pardon, a commutation, and a motion to vacate (spoiler: vacating is the better deal), why Judge Mehta — the same judge who presided over the trial — tore apart DOJ's justification in a blistering opinion, and the closing line of that opinion that's likely to outlive this administration: "This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6th. That book is now closed."
TOPICS:
Why the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were the one group Trump didn't pardon outright on January 20, 2025
The legal difference between a pardon, a commutation, and a motion to vacate — and why vacating is actually the better deal
DOJ's April motion to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions and dismiss with prejudice
Why "dismiss with prejudice" matters: it means the charges can never be brought again
Stuart Rhodes: the Yale-educated lawyer who led the Oath Keepers and armed a "Quick Reaction Force" for violence
His 18-year sentence, commuted the day after inauguration
The strength of the trial evidence: intercepted communications and "let's go get them" text messages
Judge Mehta's scathing rejection of DOJ's dismissal motion — no legal insufficiency, no misconduct, no wrongful conviction
Why the judge couldn't block the dismissal outright, but wrote an opinion designed to become the story instead
The historic closing line: "This is the last of the prosecutions... That book is now closed"
Judge Mehta's warning that the ruling "excuses criminal acts" that made "a centuries-long pillar of our democracy... buckle"
A darkly funny Instagram stat: more pardoned J6ers have been re-arrested than fraudulent ballots cast in 20 years of U.S. elections
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