Here's the DOJ webpage describing the indictment of Stewart Rhodes (leader of Oath Keepers) for his role in January 6:
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment yesterday, which was unsealed today, charging 11 defendants with seditious conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress...
www.justice.gov
Here's a link to the indictment:
As you can see, Rhodes has been indicted for Counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 9. Count 1 (Seditious Conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. 2384) is the count that's been getting so much media coverage.
Here's the actual code section:
>>>18 U.S. Code § 2384 - Seditious conspiracy
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.<<<
www.law.cornell.edu
Editing the code down to the parts that are most likely to get Rhodes convicted we get:
>>If two or more persons . . . conspire to . . . by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States . . . they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.<<<
"The essence of conspiracy is an agreement to commit some act condemned by law." United States v. Jimenez Recio, 537 U.S. 270, 274 (2003) (quoting Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 777 (1975)) (“The Court has repeatedly said that the essence of a conspiracy is ‘an agreement to commit an unlawful act.’”
That agreement is ‘a distinct evil...’”); see also United States v. Flores, 945 F.3d 687, 712 (2d Cir. 2019) (“The crux of
a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to join together to accomplish something illegal.”); United
States v. Annamalai, 939 F.3d 1216, 1232 (11th Cir. 2019) (quoting Ocasio v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1423, 1429
(2016)) (‘“The fundamental characteristic of a [§ 371] conspiracy is a joint commitment to an endeavor which, if
completed, would satisfy all of the elements of [underlying substantive] criminal offense.”’); United States v. Cruse,
805 F.3d 795, 811 (7th Cir. 2015) (emphasis in the original) (“[T]he agreement is essential evil at which the crime of
conspiracy is directed”); United States v. Lapier, 796 F.3d 1090, 1096 (9th Cir. 2015) (“Conspiracy is a partnership in
criminal purposes. The gist of the crime is the confederation or combination of minds.”).
Notice that the agreement "to commit" does not require that a criminal act actually occurs.
I'm not sure how this will turn out, but these guys (the Oath Keepers) are basically just completely F'ng nuts (Hint: read the indictment).