Elmer Stewart Rhodes III

After graduating high school in Las Vegas, Stewart joined the Army and was a paratrooper. His back was severely injured in a parachuting accident. Because of that accident, he was honorably discharged in 1986 after almost three years of service. In 1991, he was working in Las Vegas when he met his future wife, Tasha Adams. The couple married in 1994 and welcomed six children over the next several years. The family lived in several Western states before settling down in Montana. The couple separated in 2018, but the divorce wasn’t finalized for years. 

In 2001, Stewart began law school at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Just two weeks after he began law school, the terrorist attacks of September 11^th shook the country. It profoundly impacted Stewart; particularly the Patriot Act and its ability to take away citizens’ rights. Stewart taught a self-defense class, and his research paper about enemy combatants’ classification during the presidency of George W. Bush won an award during his final year at Yale. After graduating from Yale in 2004, Stewart clerked for Michael D. Ryan, an associate justice at the Arizona Supreme Court. As a lawyer, Stewart worked in various western states.

Stewart worked as a staffer for Republican Congressman Ron Paul, and volunteered for Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. Stewart later complained that Paul’s opponents likened Paul to hate groups and racists just to demean him.

In 2009, five years after Stewart graduated law school, he founded Oath Keepers. The organization was launched in Lexington, Massachusetts, at the location of the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. The launch occurred two months into the presidency of Barack Obama.

In 2013, under Stewart’s leadership, the Oath Keepers instructed its members to form “Citizen Preservation” teams (which included militias) to operate in communities across the country. The teams were assembled to defend citizens against the government intentionally letting the country descend into chaos, then giving an order of martial law and scrapping the Constitution. Oath Keepers felt that the government is “preparing to control and contain us, and to shoot us, but not preparing to feed us”. Stewart is reported to have taken inspiration from the idea that Adolf Hitler could have been stopped if German soldiers and police officers had refused to follow his orders.

On December 8, 2015, Stewart was disbarred by the Montana Supreme Court for conduct violating the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct. Stewart refused to respond to two bar grievances filed against him in the federal district court of Arizona.

On December 12, 2020, Stewart spoke at a Pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. alongside speakers including Michael Flynn and Sebastian Gorka. Rhodes called on President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, warning that not doing so would lead to a “much more bloody war”.

In January 2021, Stewart was living in Granbury, Texas when he traveled to Washington D.C. and met up with other Oath Keepers to provide security during President Trump’s speech on January 6^th. After the speech, Stewart and his associates made their way to the Capitol Building. They arrived on the grounds around 2 pm and made their way to the building itself. Stewart never entered the Capitol Building, and there is no evidence that he committed any violent acts.

Stewart was arrested on January 13, 2022, in Texas.  He was charged with five felonies, including Seditious Conspiracy and Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding (being challenged at the Supreme Court.) He appeared at his arraignment on January 25^th and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was remanded into custody at that time and thrown into the infamous DC Gulag.

Stewart’s trial by jury started on September 27^th, 2022. After an eight-week trial followed by three days of deliberations, the jury reached its verdict. On November 29, 2022, Stewart was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding (a charge being challenged before the Supreme Court because it is a financial crime law used for J6rs by the DOJ to upgrade misdemeanors and maximize sentencing), and tampering with documents and proceedings. Stewart’s fear of the federal government overreaching became a reality.

Right before his sentencing, Stewart’s divorce became final.

On May 25, 2023, Stewart was sentenced to eighteen years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He is scheduled for release on March 14, 2037.

Stewarts’s eldest son, Dakota, took his mother’s maiden name and has decided to run for the Montana House of Representatives.