Rhodes filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in federal District Court arguing that he could not continue with his current legal team because of a “complete or near complete breakdown in communication” and needed at least three months with new counsel to file a dozen motions. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta called Rhodes’ claims about the case and his own attorneys “incorrect and frankly confusing.” In a nearly two-hour hearing, he dismissed most of Rhodes’ proposed requests as irrelevant, legally impermissible or unnecessary. “Mr. Rhodes at no point … since he was arrested, has he remained silent,” Mehta said. “Never, not once … have I heard a peep from Mr. Rhodes about his lack of contact with his lawyers or frustration with the performance of his lawyers”. He said Rhodes could add a lawyer to his legal team if he wanted, but that he would go to trial in three weeks and that his original counsel, James Lee Bright and Philip Linder, would not be removed from the case. Rhodes is charged with conspiring to use violence against the federal government and disrupt the lawful transfer of power by attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Although he is not accused of entering the building, prosecutors say he oversaw a group that confronted violent law enforcement and tried to hide evidence of these crimes. Three associates pleaded guilty to rioting conspiracy. four will be tried with him and another four in November. The delay would wreak “havoc” on a busy court schedule, Mehta said, and “there is no humanly possible way” a new lawyer “could be ready in 90 days.” The trial is set to begin on September 27. It was previously scheduled for September 26, but last week Mehta ordered a one-day delay for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. Mehta called it “complete and utter nonsense” to suggest that Rhodes was not competently represented by Bright and Linder, whom he credited with leading efforts to help all defendants prepare for trial. The two Texas attorneys have been representing Rhodes since his arrest in January. Far from being disqualified from the process, Mehta said, Rhodes “had an exemption that no other defendant, to my knowledge — that no other defendant in any case, not just the January 6 cases, but any case in this district , does not take .” Rhodes is imprisoned in DC. US marshals brought him to court twice a week to examine the evidence for six hours at a time. “No other accused has this kind of accommodation,” Mehta said. The judge acknowledged that having lawyers in Texas was a challenge, but said Rhodes made the choice not to hire local counsel. Rhodes’ new attorney, Edward L. Tarpley Jr., wrote that Rhodes’ previous attorneys “do not communicate substantially with Rhodes regarding trial preparation, witness discovery, evidence selection, or even basic defense strategy.” , even though “Rhodes is a graduate of Yale Law School with legal training, experience and education.” Mehta questioned Rhodes’ legal acumen, saying the self-proclaimed militia leader made demands that the federal judge had no authority to grant — including forcing the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack to hand over information and barring use of a recording made by a private citizen because it may violate state law. “You don’t have to be a constitutional scholar to know that” a First Amendment challenge to the indictment would go nowhere, Mehta said. Bright told the court he had rejected some of Rhodes’ proposals on similar grounds, including a “red herring” from the “conspiracy world”. Others, he said, he had heard for the first time in Tarpley’s drive. “I have no ill will towards Mr. Rhodes. I have given seven months of my life to Mr. Rhodes,” he said. But “I’m really nervous right now not to tell the court that this isn’t a broken relationship.” By the end of the hearing, he and Rhodes had apologized for accusing each other of lying, and Bright promised to “bend over backwards” to better communicate with his client. Mehta said the only concern Tarpley raised that had any merit was that the indictment last week of Kellye SoRelle, former Oath Keepers general counsel, “represents a monumental shift in how Rhodes expected to defend himself of”. In court, Linder said that until her arrest SoRelle was willing to testify in Rhodes’ defense. Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler said the Justice Department had told all the defendants months ago that SoRelle, who appeared on Capitol Hill with Rhodes on Jan. 6, had “potential criminal exposure.” He is charged with conspiracy to obstruct the counting of congressional votes and forgery, among other crimes. She has publicly declared her innocence.
