Plus, Australia cancels Novak Djokovic's visa ... again.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 attack; Novak Djokovic has had his Australian visa canceled — again. Sentences will be off on Monday to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes. Serious charges for Oath Keepers founder Aaron C. Davis/Washington Post via Getty Images - Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, was arrested on Thursday on charges of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol building. Rhodes and 10 others named in the indictment are accused of bringing weapons and ammunitions to DC, recruiting members and teaching them combat tactics as well as organizing insurrectionists into groups "prepared and willing to use force" to overturn the 2020 election results. [Department of Justice]
- Ten others were named in the indictment, and while Rhodes maintained that he himself did not breach the Capitol grounds, several others named in the indictment did, while others helped amass weapons and formed quick reaction force teams to stop the democratic transfer of power. Rhodes is specifically singled out as the ringleader in the indictment, which says that Oath Keepers acted on his orders. [NPR / Carrie Johnson and Ryan Lucas]
- The indictment also alleges that Rhodes and other insurrectionists discussed plans to use violence and "scare the shit out of" Congress in order to overturn the election results. Two groups, or "stacks," allegedly made up of and organized by Oath Keepers, stormed the Capitol on January 6, one targeting congressional chambers and the other confronting officers in the Capitol rotunda. [AP / Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long, and Alanna Durkin Richer]
- The charge of seditious conspiracy carries a potential 20-year sentence, and compared to charges other January 6 defendants have been charged with or convicted of, it's extremely serious. It's also extremely hard to prove — the prosecution must show that two or more people planned to use force to thwart a US law or subvert a government authority. [NYT / Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman]
- Rhodes is thus far the most high-profile person to be charged in the January 6 attacks. During a speech last week commemorating the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attacks, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed, "The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last." [CBS / Nicole Sganga]
- "Stewart Rhodes is an extraordinarily influential figure on the far right and extremists are paying close attention to his arrest and the fate of his Oath Keepers in general," Southern Poverty Law Center senior investigative reporter and spokesperson Michael Edison Hayden told Vox via email. "It's a significant event, even outside the context of the anti-government movement."
Australia canceled tennis star Novak Djokovic's visa again - Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic had his Australian visa revoked for a second time due to his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Djokovic is set to play in the Australian Open on Monday and had disputed his need for a vaccine because he'd gotten a medical exemption. [CBS / Wajih AlBaroudi]
- Djokovic was held in immigration detention last week after his visa was canceled when he landed in Australia on January 5; he's been free since Monday but could head back into detention again Saturday before his scheduled appeal trial. Experts are doubtful that his attorneys will be able to wrap up his case in sufficient time for him to compete, and there's a good chance he might lose the case completely and be deported. [NYT / Damien Cave, Christopher Clarey, and Yan Zhuang]
- Alex Hawke, the Australian immigration minister, canceled Djokovic's visa Friday on the grounds that his vaccine refusal had violated the standards of "health and good order," and his decision was in the public interest because Djokovic's stance could excite anti-vaccine sentiment. Australia has had extremely strict rules during the coronavirus outbreak, and Australians have been subject to a number of lockdowns over the past two years. [ESPN]
- Australia is in the midst of a surge in omicron cases, despite high vaccination rates. Though the government eased many restrictions before the onset of omicron, it was slow to reinstate measures like mask-wearing when omicron was first identified. [AP / Kristen Gelineau]
Student loan processing company Navient will cancel $1.7 billion in private student loans — that's about 66,000 borrowers — to settle claims that it used deceptive lending practices. [WSJ / Gabriel T. Rubin and Douglas Belkin] - Hundreds of doctors and scientists chastised Spotify for hosting Joe Rogan's "false and societally harmful assertions" about Covid-19. [Washington Post / Timothy Bella]
- Elephants in Sri Lanka are dying after ingesting plastic waste. [AP / Achala Pussalla]
- The Ethiopian foreign ministry accused WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of links to Tigrayan forces. [Reuters]
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