In the run up to the election, the group openly posted aboutplans to go to polling locationsto stand up against and protect voters from anti-Trump left-wing groups. Cleveland, Ohio, April 2010: Matthew Fairfield, president of the local Oath Keepers chapter, was arrested on a large number of explosives (and other) charges, including child pornography allegations. When. Amplifying Fears of the Deep State: Though the Oath Keepers espouse an anti-government ideology, the Oath Keepers largely support President Trump and his administration. Later in 2014, members of the Oath Keepers showed up in Ferguson, Missouri, during the unrest that followed the death of Michael Brown, a Black man, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The group has also recruited from among people already involved in the anti-government extremist movement. January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol:At least nine people associated with the Oath Keepers have beenchargedwith conspiracy in connection with the January 6 attack, with prosecutors alleging that the defendants coordinated to travel to Washington, D.C., breach the Capitol and disrupt the certification of the 2020 election. The group is rooted in conspiracy theories, including the belief that the federal. Countering Black Lives Matter: Some of the Oath Keepers most notable mobilizations have occurred in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Dyer was extradited back to Oklahoma and subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison. Oath Keepers is an essential contribution to our understanding of the growing appeal and violent potential of ever-evolving forms of domestic extremism. Each theory goes back to the idea that the U.S. government has fallen under global governance and will at some point use police and military members to enforce the New World Orders plans. In November 2017, Ritzheimer was sentenced to spend a year and a day in federal prison. Cook had previous convictions for possessing stolen property, grand larceny and attempted possession of a controlled substance. Prior to his arrest, Dyer had posted a YouTube video in which Dyer, a former Marine, said, Join the military? Bay County, Florida, October 2018: A group identifying themselves as Oath Keepers were arrested after violating curfew and for openly carrying a firearm. Heavily armed members of the Oath Keepers were seen on rooftops in what they said was an effort to protect businesses from rioters. The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who was honourably discharged after suffering an injury in a training exercise. Opaliski subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of dealing firearms without a license and was sentenced in July 2016 to one year and one day in prison. While Rhodes reportedly framed the early days of the Oath Keepers as "just a pro-Constitution group made up of patriots," he would eventually help the group evolve into what it is today. Members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, are on trial in one of the most high-profile cases stemming from the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Founded in 2009, Oath Keepers (OK) is one of the largest and most prominent organizations of the militia/patriot movement with chapters across the country. The group has ties to other antigovernment extremist groups, including former Arizona SheriffRichard Mack, the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA). The Pacific Patriots Network also includes antigovernment extremist groups aligned with the Three Percenters, and the Oath Keepers contingent is the very same chapter that took part in Operation Gold Rush in Oregon in 2015. Barbeauwas sentencedto 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. At the White Hope mine in Lincoln, Montana, the U.S. Forest Service took issue with an unauthorized shed and surface disturbances related to the cutting of firewood. They are often confrontational and have participated in multiple armed standoffs against the government. Thats why Oath Keepers will be posted outside of D.C. Weve got some of our best men working on the plan right now for where were going to be. [A group spokesman] will tell you that everyone was vetted properly. He warned about a possible Benghazi-style attack targeting President Trump and said that the Oath Keepers will be stationing its best men outside of Washington, D.C. around the election because they are anticipating the government to enable a coup against Trump. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. To prove the imminent threat of martial law, Rhodes often points to the World War II internment of Japanese Americans and to the gun confiscation by police and military members in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (a federal court subsequently ordered New Orleans officials to return all confiscated firearms). While the Oath Keepers official statement regarding the death of George Floyd was to condemn the actions of the officers involved, they have stated that they oppose looting and arson and have expressed a general distrust for the Black Lives Matter protests. The Oath Keepers rose to prominence when handfuls of heavily armed members showed up at racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and their profile grew thanks to a series of . The Bundys and other sympathizers tried to get Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son, Steven Hammond, 46, on their side, denouncing the Hammonds resentencing and the management of public lands by federal agencies. The Second Amendment Under Assault: Oath Keepers call for the nullification of all gun laws and view any gun control measures as schemes designed to dismantle the Second Amendment. The Oath Keepers have had more success in recruiting former military personnel, which is a much larger pool to draw from; many Oath Keepers speak of past military service. The Interior Board of Land Appeals decided the miners were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered. Oath Keepers have advertised various anti-lockdown events and calls to action, for example protesting outside of a Dallas-based judges home to demand the immediate release of a business owner who had defied lockdown orders. The Southern Poverty Law Center further describes the Oath Keepers as "often confrontational," noting that they have been involved in a number of armed standoffs involving the government. By Ryan J. Reilly. In February 2015, Irish was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The real goal of these militias is to prey upon the fears and concerns of local communities and revitalize the American militia movement, all under the guise ofneighborhood watchand self-sufficiency. The Oath Keepers declared theirmission accomplishedand ended the security operation in what they touted as a victory against the government. On October 27, he appeared on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones program The Alex Jones Show and said that members of the Oath Keepers will be at polling stations to protect Trump voters from the left. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the . He was charged with carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with intent to use it for civil disorder, as well as a second count of using a firearm in relation to another felony. In his book Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group, Sam Jackson says this creates in an inherent contradiction for the group the police and military organizations from which their members come are some of the same organizations the group likely would have to attack in order to carry out its self-proclaimed mission against the government. Oath Keeper member and tattoo shop owner Roberto Minuta requested the groups presence for the reopening of his business. He had a duty and responsibility to step up. Founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers is a large right-wing anti-government extremist group. Antigovernment rhetoric energized his defense and underpinned his lack of cooperation in the case. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, what differentiates them from other anti-government extremist groups is their explicit focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first responder personnel. The Oath Keepers, founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, is a loosely organized conspiracy theory-fueled group whose members vow to defend the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and. A Washington, DC, jury on Tuesday convicted Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and associate Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy for their role around the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The Oath Keepers leader, Stewart Rhodes, has posted various livestreams on the groups website claiming that undocumented immigrants are part of a larger plan to flood the United States with Democratic voters to shatter the American social system. Rhodes himself participated in aprotest outside the Dallas County Jailin Texas where Luther was being held. We are already in a fight. As part of their support for President Trump, the Oath Keepers have decried the deep state, an alleged network of institutions and bureaucracies within the federal government that a range of right-wing actors and groups believe is trying to undermine and even destroy the Trump administration. Massachusetts the site of the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. Some looming UN transgressions anticipated by Oath Keepers include the implementation of global taxation and a global currency that would end the use of the dollar. The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a former US Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate. Stewart Rhodes has spoken at anti-lockdown protests in Texas, New York and California. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022). The Oath Keepers found members in all corners of Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to the Cape and Islands. In addition to Rhodes, ten other Oath Keepers nine of whom were already facing conspiracy charges relating to the attack were charged with seditious conspiracy, and these individuals are the first to face seditious conspiracy charges for conduct arising from the January 6 insurrection. In 2015, armed Oath Keepers along with various individuals from the broader Patriot movement traveled to mines in Montana and Oregon during regulation compliance disputes related to mining rights versus surface rights in the hopes that their presence would intimidate federal officials from taking action. According to Jacksons book, the group has engaged in real-world activities in response to events they perceive as threats to Americans rights and liberties, claiming to be pushing back against a government they see as tyrannical. Stewart Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, with a mission to resist unlawful exercises of government power. Thirteen people associated with the Oath Keepers have. The group continued to plead with Trump to declare a national emergency to build his border wall, attended a We Build the Wall event in Sunland Park, New Mexico, and mobilized to Texas for a security operation along the border. The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism pored over more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it believes currently work in law. Rhodes wasdisbarredafter practicing law in Arizona without a license by writing letters threatening a lawsuit on behalf of the ejected residents. While criticizing the occupation, the Oath Keepers did take part in a coalition of militias in the Pacific Northwest called the Pacific Patriots Network, which served as a buffer between the occupiers and government forces. Longtime former Wilbraham Planning Board member David A. Sanders and former Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty Jr. were both listed among the 550 members that live in Massachusetts. in 2014, Oath Keepers garnered attention from the media for their involvement in the unrest that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri after a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict police . In 2014, Rhodes claimed the group had an unlikely 35,000 dues-paying members who are said to be mostly, although not exclusively, current and former military, law enforcement and emergency first responders. Founder Stewart Rhodes is a former Montana attorney and Army veteran who acts as the groups main spokesperson. . In 2015, Rhodes said they would protect notorious Kentucky clerk Kim Davis from arrest. Local police released a statement announcing that the group broke the law byproviding security without first obtaining a license.They called on the group to cease their activities. The Oath Keepers rose to prominence when handfuls of heavily armed members showed up at racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and their profile grew thanks to a series of . All Rights Reserved. Oath Keepers is an American far-right [1] anti-government militia [1] [3] whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of Presidential power as prescribed by the US Constitution. The Oath Keepers rose to prominence when handfuls of heavily armed members showed up at racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and their profile grew thanks to a series of . Most relate to their recruitment and promotional efforts. Impending Martial Law: One of the most prominent Oath Keeper theories is that a large scale pandemic, natural disaster or terrorist attack will give the government an excuse to impose martial law resulting in (but not limited to) door to door gun confiscation, the ban of interstate travel and detainment of citizens in concentration camps. CNN A lawyer with close ties to the right-wing militia group the Oath Keepers has been charged with four counts related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, including conspiracy to. Rhodes eventually left his job at the court and began looking toward forming an anti-government movement. "While legal methods like lawsuits have proven effective, and prosecutions have dismantled some of the most dangerous far-right terrorist groups, the effort to fully unseat the rise of white nationalism willonly come from a mass wave of organized resistance. Minuta has beenindictedon the conspiracy charge. Members of the group were also indicted by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6. In response to various controversial shootings by and of police since 2014, most Oath Keepers have sided with law enforcement against activist groups like Black Lives Matter. More recently, the Oath Keepers have offered armed security to individuals attending Trump Rallies, Free Speech rallies and other pro-Trump events. This aid includes providing bottled water and food, clearing roads and helping with rescue missions. Westfield, Massachusetts, March 2011: Oath Keeper David M. Phillips was arrested in Massachusetts on charges of possession of ammunition without the required Firearms Identification Card and four counts of possession of a large capacity firearm feeding device. "Even if the most extreme actors are eliminated, the consequences of their ideas could remain," Burley added. But well make sure that were within range because I dont trust the Pentagon, I dont trust the brass, I dont trust even the Secretary of Defense to stand behind the President [Trump] and dont be surprised if you dont get the same kind of standdown order you saw with Benghazi. Stewart Rhodes, during an interview on Infowars The Alex Jones Show, Oct. 27, 2020, Well go undercover and look for people we think are committing voting fraud. Since then, the Oath. Once these thugs turned to burning, killing and looting, they became domestic enemies.. organization adopted anti-lockdown rhetoric. Before 2019, the Oath Keepers Twitter platform used the term deep state only once, but since then the term has been used at least 79 times on the platform, which suggests that the organization finds this rhetoric to be a useful tactic to appeal to the large pool of right-wing actors who believe in the conspiracy. To his arrest, Dyer had posted a YouTube video in which Dyer, a former Montana and... 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