The founder of the far-right militant Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday for seditious conspiracy, the longest sentence imposed to date over the Jan. 6 US Capitol riot that sought to keep Donald Trump in the White House.

US District Judge Amit Mehta delivered the sentence after a defiant Rhodes stood before him in an orange jumpsuit and claimed he was a "political prisoner" who, like Trump, was trying to oppose people "who are destroying our country."

“For decades, Mr. Rhodes, it is clear you have wanted the democracy of this country to devolve into violence," Mehta told him.

"I dare say, Mr. Rhodes, and I've never said this about anyone who I've sentenced: You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy."

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