Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes said on Monday he was shocked to learn that his allies went "off-mission" and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, telling jurors he only learned about it after the fact and never viewed disrupting Congress as a goal for his far-right group.

"I didn't want them getting wrapped up into all the nonsense with Trump supporters," Rhodes said under questioning from his attorneys. "My goal was to make sure that no one got wrapped up in that Charlie Foxtrot going on inside the Capitol."

It was Rhodes' most forceful rebuttal to the seditious conspiracy case prosecutors have been making against him for weeks. They have alleged that he helped orchestrate an "armed rebellion" against the incoming Biden administration, leading his group to Washington on Jan. 6 and assembling stockpiles of weapons nearby in case violence escalated. The goal, the Justice Department argued, was to keep Donald Trump in power, by force if necessary.