U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-9) this afternoon applauded the arrest and indictment of Stewart Rhodes, a leading figure in the far right Oath Keepers, and 10 others on sedition charges for attempting to overthrow our government by preventing and delaying the lawful count of the electoral college during the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the United States Capitol.

“This is an important turning point,” said Rep. Pascrell, who was the first member of Congress to demand seditious members not be seated in the House of Representatives. “What happened on January 6 was organized sedition against the United States of America. The insurrectionists and their organizers tried to overturn the election and violently topple our democracy. With this indictment we are seeing the plot continue to be exposed. The Department of Justice must follow the conspiracy no matter how high it goes. It cannot — it must not — end here.

“Meanwhile, our select committee led by my good friend Chairman Thompson are exposing the ugly, terrifying truth of that day. If men like Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, and their cabal continue to obstruct the truth about January 6 and hide under their desks, they must be subpoenaed and hauled in. Silence more than undermines the investigation, it makes them complicit in covering up an event that the Justice Department believes is an act of sedition. Absolutely no one should escape full accountability. Full accountability for January 6 is the best and maybe only we can save our democracy now and from future attacks.”

Rep. Pascrell has been outspoken in demanding accountability for the January 6 Insurrection and Republican attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. On December 11, 2020, Pascrell urged House leadership to “refuse to seat in the 117th Congress any Members-elect seeking to make Donald Trump an unelected dictator.” On the one-year anniversary of the attack, he wrote an impassioned oped urging a full-fledged defense of American democracy.