Pro-Trump protesters inside the US Capitol building
Pro-Trump protesters inside the US Capitol buildingReuters/Michael Nigro/Sipa USA

A federal jury in Washington on Tuesday found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, another member of the organization, guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, NBC News reported.

Three other members of the group who were on trial alongside Rhodes and Meggs — Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell — were found not guilty on the seditious conspiracy charge, according to the report.

All five defendants were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting for their actions on Jan. 6.

Watkins was also found guilty on a count of civil disorder and aiding and abetting because, as she admitted on the stand, she helped push against officers inside the Capitol. Caldwell, who was also found guilty of tampering with documents or proceedings and aiding and abetting, was the only one of the five who was not detained while awaiting trial.

The seditious conspiracy case is the most serious to grow out of the Justice Department's investigation into the US Capitol attack.

Federal prosecutors alleged that the five defendants conspired to oppose the peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden, but did not prove that there was a pre-coordinated plot to actually storm the US Capitol.

Instead, federal prosecutors alleged that those who entered the building — Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson — seized the opportunity when other rioters broke into the Capitol.

Members of the Oath Keepers organized a "quick reaction force" at a hotel in Virginia, which one prosecution witness testified contained the most weapons he'd seen in one place since his military days. Caldwell stayed at the "QRF" hotel and met with Oath Keepers near Trump's speech in Washington on Jan. 6 before going to the Capitol with his wife, where they went to the top of the inauguration platform set up on the west side of the Capitol.

While three other Oath Keepers pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, none of them testified during the trial.

The Justice Department has charged about 900 people in connection with the Capitol attack and is asking Congress for more resources for the investigation. Hundreds of additional cases are in the works.