The sentence for Stewart Rhodes was the longest so far in the federal investigation of the Capitol attack and the first issued to a defendant convicted of sedition.
The Justice Department has been successful in holding leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to account, but threats from other groups and radicalized individuals are on the rise.
A log of messages shows how agents scrambled after evidence and sought to recruit members of the group all while trying to squeeze in workouts and cope with the bureau’s obsolete technology.
The verdicts came after earlier trials in which other members of the pro-Trump, far-right militia were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Capitol attack.
Jeremy Bertino, a former Proud Boy, provided some of the government’s best evidence so far, but he also offered an unusual description of a criminal conspiracy.