Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, said he is denouncing MAGA in the wake of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
Rhodes, who is seeking a pardon after his 18-year sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 attack was commuted by Trump, said he can no longer support the president due to the “obvious” influence Israel has on the 79-year-old’s policies.
“That’s why I no longer call myself MAGA. I am an American-only patriot. I’m an American Christian nationalist,” Rhodes said while guest-hosting conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars show on Monday.
“I have to open my eyes to the reality in front of my face, and it’s caused a division inside of MAGA, and it’s caused a division on the political right. But so be it,” Rhodes added. “We can’t shut our eyes to the truth in front of us. I don’t want any foreign influence in our government whatsoever.”
Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May 2023 after being convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection with the 2021 Capitol riot.
The sedation charges were among the most serious brought in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. While Rhodes did not enter the Capitol himself, he instructed members of the extremist anti-government militia group Oath Keepers to violently obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results.
Rhodes was released from jail last January after Trump commuted his sentence, but stopped short of granting him a full pardon.
Rhodes said he is traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday in a bid to convince the president to pardon him and other Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members.
“My oath won’t let me shut my eyes, or shut my mouth, about what’s happening in our country,” Rhodes said.
“And so I can’t let the fact that I’m still waiting for a pardon, along with seven other Oath Keepers and those four Proud Boys—all of them who were innocent men, wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted—I can’t let that shut me up about calling out what I see happening in our country. And so if I lose my pardon because of that, then so be it.”
Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio and Joe Biggs were among the other high-profile far-right extremists whose Jan.6-related sentences were commuted by Trump on his first day back in the White House.
Multiple MAGA figures have also condemned the so-called “Peace President” for dragging the U.S. into a Middle East conflict after campaigning on a “no more wars” vow in 2024.
This includes the highly influential former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly, and MAGA exile Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
