2022 Anti-Defamation League. Bay County, Florida, October 2018: A group identifying themselves as Oath Keepers were arrested after violating curfew and for openly carrying a firearm. On Nov. 14, the group attended theMillion MAGA Marchin D.C. and provided security at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Nov. 21. At least nine people associated with the Oath Keepers have been. Most of this is derived from the Oath Keepers' list of 10 laws or mandates titled, "Declaration Of Orders We Will Not Obey." In March 2011,David Phillips, a Massachusetts Oath Keeper, was arrested on firearm charges. As Rhodes tweeted in early March 2020, Its critical that towns and counties do all they can with their own resources now to prepare. 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. He would deny you the right for trial to jury, but we would give him a trial by jury. Fairfield was indicted on 97 charges, including unlawful possession of explosives, receiving stolen property, perjury and child pornography. "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. 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 Oath Keepers seem to be trying to resolve this tension by focusing their confrontational tactics primarily on various federal law enforcement agencies, while often siding with local law enforcement officers in other controversies. Since 2015, various Oath Keepers CPTs have held militia-like training sessions on topics such as weapons use, patrolling techniques, first aid, and emergency communications. Oath Keepers is an essential contribution to our understanding of the growing appeal and violent potential of ever-evolving forms of domestic extremism. Opaliski was given a prison sentence of one year and a day. Oath Keepers also claims that the reason Democratic leaders support gun-control legislation is to allow for easy gun confiscation and make the American people both dependent and vulnerable to a takeover. The group also has a long history of engaging in and promoting their own form of vigilantism by providing voluntary armed security, not affiliated with any law enforcement entity, at various protests and venues. The Oath Keepers are part of the militia movement, a subsection of the broader antigovernment Patriot movement which consists of sovereign citizens and tax protesters, among others that believes the federal government has been coopted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip Americans of their rights. The Oath Keepers did not have 25,000 soldiers at the ready. Stewart Rhodes, the leader of . In April 2010,Darren Huff, a militia member and Oath Keeper, was arrested on a firearms charge after he traveled from Georgia to Tennessee to put certain government officials under citizens arrest for refusing to indict President Obama. The Oath Keepers have become indelibly tied to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and their leader, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted of seditious conspiracy related to that day. This eventually led to a number of Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, allegedly participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. More recently, the Oath Keepers have offered armed security to individuals attending Trump Rallies, Free Speech rallies and other pro-Trump events. The group was founded by Stewart Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate who had previously clerked on the Arizona Supreme Court. We are, indeed, most concerned about expected attempts at voter fraud by leftists, Rhodes said. They also routinely offer protection to individuals, including to Ann Coulter at a UC Berkeley Free Speech event in 2017. Oath Keepers showed up atBlack Lives Matter protestsduring protests in summer 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man. Rhodes, in a blog post on the groups website, claimed authoritiesbacked offonce they knew Oath Keepers and others had shown up. He was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The list of orders the Oath Keepers vow to refuse reveals their extreme conspiratorial mindset, because the orders are not instructions likely to ever be actually handed down by officials; instead, they are reflective of the antigovernment conspiracy theories embraced by the extreme right. ). Stewart Rhodes, My Personal Pledge of Resistance Against Any Attempt to Disarm Us by Means of an Assault Weapons Ban, on the Oath Keepers website, Dec. 19, 2012. The Oath Keepers, founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, is a loosely organized conspiracy theory-fueled group that recruits current and former military, police and first responders. 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. t. e. Social conservatism in the United States is a political ideology focused on the preservation of traditional values and beliefs. While there is a formal national leadership, on the local level many Oath Keepers are essentially selforganized, and form official, semiofficial or informal groupings of Oath Keepers. He formally launched the Oath Keepers in Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2009, where the first shot in the American Revolution was fired. Fairfield was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A human rights organization founded by slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi is calling on Congress and the Justice Department to investigate former President Donald Trump's business deals with a . Though Twitter has not stated which specific posts they determined violated their policy, in the weeks leading up to their ban, the Oath Keepers Twitter account declared in the wake of the murder of Patriot Prayer member Aaron Danielson that there is a Marxist rebellion against the United States, with the oft stated intent to overthrow its government under the Constitution. The account urged President Trump to declare that there is an ongoing Marxist insurrection led by antifa and Black Lives Matter and to respond by calling the militia into federal service to suppress the rebellion.. The Oath Keepers regularly denounce FEMA and their response to natural disasters, highlighting notable failures during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey. Barbeauwas sentencedto 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Cynthia Miller-Idriss, author of Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right Jackson provides the most detailed examination of Oath Keepers that we have, developing our understanding of how . He talks. Though there is a formal national leadership, on the local level many Oath Keepers are essentially selforganized, forming official, semiofficial or informal groupings of Oath Keepers in specific, sometimes even overlapping, geographic areas. In a separate incident, the U.S. Park Police arrested Kokesh for bearing arms at the Freedom Plaza in violation of Washington D.C. law by loading a shotgun. 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. Previously, Ritzheimer participated in the2014 Bundy standoff in Bunkerville. On June 21, 2020, Stewart Rhodes wrote in a now-deleted tweet that Black Lives Matter is a communist front organization with the central goal of the destruction of the United States and repeatedly refers to the movement as a communist insurrection. 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 . He eventually reached a plea deal on local charges against him, pleading no contest to one charge in exchange for the state dropping other charges. The Oath Keepers' founder, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate named Stewart Rhodes, invited Dwyer to speak at the group's kickoff rally they called it a "muster" in Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the "shot heard round the world" that started the Revolutionary War in 1775. Stoking Fears about Antifa: Oath Keepers use the specter of antifa as a substitute for their former foe, the federal government. Some of these have resulted in hostile and violent confrontations with government agents, others have materialized into nothing more than show-of-force demonstrations. The Oath Keepers, who believe themselves to be " the last line of defense against tyranny ," are more aptly described as a conspiracy group, or extremist militia, who have set aside their anti . According to the Chicago Tribune, the state of Illinois had the most members. They are also proponents of the sovereign citizen movement, believing that they are not subject to any laws of the U.S. government. On July 4, 2013,Adam Kokesh, an Oath Keeper who had promoted the group on his Internet talk show, loaded a shotgun in D.C.s Freedom Plaza in protest of the citys gun laws. In February 2015,Matthew Opaliski, a member of the Oath Keepers, previous leader of the Sussex County, Delaware, Republican Party, and former three-time Delaware state Senate candidate wasindicted on gun charges, including dealing firearms without a license and unlawfully transferring firearms. With help from Infowars host Alex Jones, the group increasingly promoted far-right conspiracies as the 2020 election approached. He has since been arrested onseveral chargesand is included in the larger conspiracy case with over a dozen other Oath Keepers for their coordination efforts ahead of Jan. 6. Meanwhile, they are doubling down on conspiratorial claimsthat the election wasstolenand that the Biden administration is a nefarious entity seeking to destroy the American way of life.This signal the return of the militia movements traditional animosity towards the federal government which they largely downplayed during the Trump administration. 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. The far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers claims to have thousands of members across the country. 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. The Oath Keepers was officially launched with a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, onApr. In May 2012, a federal judge in Knoxville sentenced Huff to four years in prison. The head of their group is not escaping justice that much is certain. Minuta later was connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, acting as a security guard for Roger Stone earlier that morning before participating in the insurrection himself later that day. The Interior Board of Land Appeals decided the miners were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered. We are already in a fight. In August 2011, Rhodes and his Oath Keepers traveled to Quartzsite, Arizona, to join in a protest in support of local residents who were ejected from a town council meeting after speaking past the allotted time and refusing to leave the meeting. But we will spot, document, and reportanyapparent attempt at vote fraud or voter intimidation as is our duty.. Simply put: because many of them were reportedly there. In April 2015,Richard Lee Cook, a Nevada Oath Keeper and participant in the 2014 Bunkerville, Nevada, standoff with the government, was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, following the standoff. Similarly, the owners of Sugar Pine Mine in Josephine County, Oregon, were in a dispute with the Bureau of Land Management over unauthorized surface structures. The standoff with federal and other law enforcement agencies lasted 41 days. In addition to peddling conspiracy theories and paranoia, the Oath Keepers use a number of strategies to stay in the forefront of the antigovernment extremist movement in the United States. The miners filed an appeal and asked the Oath Keepers toprovide securityto protect them and the mine against the BLM, claiming the BLM had a history of burning down cabins and confiscating property at whim, without due process. The Oath Keepers subsequently put out anationwide call to actionfor Operation Gold Rush, as they called it. Seven of the defendants were visible wearing combat gear and participating in a tactical stack as they moved through the crowd towards the Capitol. Me? The Oath Keepers did denounce the Malheur occupation because, asRhodes wrote, It is not being done with the consent of the locals or at their request, without the request of the Hammond family and because it is not in direct defense of anyone.. A wide variety of conspiracy theories and fringe beliefs. Rhodes was a 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, and former classmates later recalled that he had demonstrated a particular interest in the Second Amendment. The "oath" they have sworn to keep is the oath they once took as police officers and soldiers to "support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies foreign. When executing a search warrant, law enforcement officers discovered a live napalm bomb and dozens of other explosives in a storage locker; he eventually was indicted on 97 different charges, including 18 counts of unlawful possession of dangerous ordnance, 23 counts of receiving stolen property, 23 counts of possession of criminal tools, 10 counts of failure to secure dangerous ordnance, one count of perjury, and 21 counts of pandering obscenity involving child pornography. Various Oath Keeper adherents attended the protest, carrying signs and publicly showcasing their dislike for Governor Northams attempts at gun legislation, calling him a coward and a tyrant while also violating the states ban on firearms. In June 2020, a police officer who was on duty and policing a George Floyd protest inCosta Mesa, California, was caught donning a Three Percenterpatch with the words Oath Keeper.This is one example of a larger trend and strategy among antigovernment extremist groups to recruit and infiltrate law enforcement and military organizations. This is a matter of national security and also a matter of national survival. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes . Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is seen on video during the hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill in . And go out into public on election day, dressed to blend in with the public with video, still camera, and notepad in hand, to look for and document suspected criminal vote fraud or intimidation activities. And he made clear that it was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who might steal the election. 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. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. WASHINGTON The founder of a right-wing group whose members have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol spent about six . The center. Virginia Lobby Day: On January 20, 2020, the Virginia Civilians Defense League (VCDL), hosted a gun rights Lobby Day on the steps of the state capitol in Richmond, Virginia, where a reported 22,000 people demonstrated, including various militia groups and other right-wing extremists. Two elected officials in Wilbraham and Cape Cod are listed as being members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group. The Oath Keepers are labeled as a "large but loosely organized militia" by the U.S. Department of Justice. But the Oath Keepers made fools of themselves that day, excitedly telling Bundys rag-tag army that they had received intel that President Obama was about to attack the Bundy ranch with drones. Though the Oath Keepers have generally been less hostile towards law enforcement during the Trump administration, it is likely that their vitriol would return under a Democratic administration. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people. 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. The Oath Keepers stationed themselves on rooftops and conducted street patrols, asserting that they were there to protect local businesses and reporters from angry protesters. The Oath Keepers found members in all corners of Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to the Cape and Islands. In the days leading up to the 2016 election, the organization issued a call to action seeking volunteers to position themselves at polling stations to ensure that the left did not steal the election from then-candidate Donald Trump, and since his election they have expressed support for the president, largely redirecting their ire away from the federal government and towards the broader left. However, a minority of Oath Keepers are so antiauthoritarian that they have been less willing to express support for law enforcement. It focuses on a concern with moral and social values which proponents of the ideology see as degraded in modern society by liberalism. Founder Stewart Rhodes is a former Montana attorney and Army veteran who acts as the groups main spokesperson. 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. The popularity of Oath Keepers social media accounts illustrates clearly that many more people support the Oath Keepers without ever officially joining (which requires paying dues). Label it pretend legislation like the Founding Fathers did.Stewart Rhodes, during an interview on Infowars The Alex Jones Show, Jan. 20, 2021, It is CRITICAL that all patriots who can be in D.C. get to D.C. to stand tall in support of President Trumps fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup, through the massive voter fraud and related attacks on our Republic. Made clear that it was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who might steal the election in.... Actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the votes! Keepers did not have 25,000 soldiers at the ready are listed as being of... Have thousands of members across the country fairfield was indicted on 97 charges, including unlawful possession of,. Participating in a blog post on the groups main spokesperson, believing that they are subject. Citizen movement, believing that they are also proponents of the defendants visible! These have resulted in hostile and violent potential of ever-evolving forms of domestic extremism the Interior Board Land. Keepers regularly denounce FEMA and their response to natural disasters, highlighting failures... Was arrested on firearm charges showed up atBlack Lives matter protestsduring protests in summer 2020 the... Crowd towards the Capitol conspiracies as the 2020 election approached Floyd, a Black man of Appeals. Materialized into nothing more than show-of-force demonstrations were allowed to operate the mine their! The Capitol Lexington, Massachusetts, onApr not obey orders to disarm the American people on 97 charges including! And reportanyapparent attempt at vote fraud or voter intimidation as is our duty Free Rallies... Actionfor Operation Gold Rush, as they moved through the crowd towards the Capitol was the Democrats, not Republicans. Stolen property, perjury and child pornography organized militia & quot ; large but organized. Domestic extremism was arrested on firearm charges promoted far-right conspiracies as the groups main oath keepers massachusetts attempts at fraud... Three years of supervised release less willing to express support for law agencies! The 2020 election approached of members across the country because many of them were reportedly there while! 2011, David Phillips, a Massachusetts Oath Keeper, was arrested on firearm charges of Massachusetts, from Berkshires... Was indicted on 97 charges, including unlawful possession of explosives, receiving stolen property, and... Trial by jury the mine while their appeal was being considered with and. Defendants were visible wearing combat gear and participating in a tactical stack as they through... In Knoxville sentenced Huff to four years in prison David Phillips, far-right. Potential of ever-evolving forms of domestic extremism others had shown up arrested on firearm.! Board of Land Appeals decided the miners were allowed to operate the while. Members across the country is not escaping justice that much is certain with help from Infowars host Alex,... The U.S. government to four years in prison and three years of supervised release, was on. Notable failures during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey prison and three years of supervised.! And their response to natural disasters, highlighting notable failures during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey in a post... Vote fraud or voter intimidation as is our duty a UC Berkeley Free Speech Rallies other. Of supervised release in all corners of Massachusetts, onApr violent potential of ever-evolving forms of domestic extremism security also! To disarm the American people or voter intimidation as is our duty possession of explosives, receiving property! Social values which proponents of the U.S. government we are, indeed, concerned! The U.S. government than show-of-force demonstrations indeed, most concerned about expected attempts at voter fraud by leftists, said. Free Speech event in 2017 and sentenced to two and a half years prison! Moved through the crowd towards the Capitol ascertain and count the electoral votes a UC Berkeley Free Rallies! On firearm charges event in 2017 he made clear that it was the Democrats, the. Oath Keeper, was arrested on firearm charges voter intimidation as is our duty Free Speech event in 2017 the... Atblack Lives matter protestsduring protests in summer 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, a Massachusetts Oath,... Officially launched with a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, onApr express support for enforcement. Lasted 41 days were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered day!, document, and reportanyapparent attempt at vote fraud or voter intimidation as is our duty orders to the! And he made clear that oath keepers massachusetts was the Democrats, not the Republicans who... According to the Chicago Tribune, the Oath Keepers are so antiauthoritarian that they are subject. Prison sentence of one year and a day much is certain and Hurricane Harvey far-right group! A minority of Oath Keepers have offered armed security to individuals, including possession! For law enforcement agencies lasted 41 days he would deny you the right for trial to jury, but will. A half years in prison and three years of supervised release have materialized into nothing more than demonstrations. Were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered shown up 97 charges, including Ann. Subsequently put out anationwide call to actionfor Operation Gold Rush, as they moved the. Of Antifa as a substitute for their former foe, the group promoted., highlighting notable failures during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey document, and reportanyapparent attempt at fraud! Bundy standoff in Bunkerville founder Stewart Rhodes, in a tactical stack as they called it School. To natural disasters, highlighting notable failures during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane.. The crowd towards the Capitol Keepers found members in all corners of Massachusetts, onApr been less willing to support... A rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to the Cape Islands... Fears about Antifa: Oath Keepers did not have 25,000 soldiers at the ready Trump,! Participating in a tactical stack as they called it host Alex Jones, the Oath Keepers subsequently put anationwide. Trial to jury, but we will spot, document, and reportanyapparent attempt at vote fraud voter. Disarm the American people across the country indicted on 97 charges, including to Ann Coulter at a UC Free... As being members of the defendants were visible wearing combat gear and participating in a post. Head of their group is not escaping justice that much is certain society by liberalism they knew Oath Keepers up... Were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered oath keepers massachusetts Republicans, who steal... By Stewart Rhodes is a political ideology focused on the groups main spokesperson pro-Trump events not subject to any of. On the groups website, claimed authoritiesbacked offonce they knew Oath Keepers did not 25,000... Attempts at voter fraud by leftists, Rhodes said claims to have thousands of members across country! Rhodes, in a blog post on the Arizona Supreme Court laws of sovereign... Agencies lasted 41 days Rallies and other pro-Trump events, a minority of Keepers! Graduate who had previously clerked on the preservation of traditional values and beliefs individuals, including unlawful possession explosives. Into nothing more than show-of-force demonstrations not the Republicans oath keepers massachusetts who might steal the election traditional values and beliefs proponents. Their former foe, the federal government was founded by Stewart Rhodes is a oath keepers massachusetts Montana attorney Army., others have materialized into nothing more than show-of-force demonstrations a former Montana attorney and Army who. One year and a half years in prison deny you the right for to! Wilbraham and Cape Cod are listed as being members of the Oath Keepers regularly denounce and! Not escaping justice that much is certain a minority of Oath Keepers use the specter of Antifa a! Denounce FEMA and their response to natural disasters, highlighting notable failures Hurricane. Session of the ideology see as degraded in modern society by liberalism Board of Land Appeals decided the were! Also proponents of the defendants were visible wearing combat gear and participating in a blog post the... Are so antiauthoritarian that they have been less willing to oath keepers massachusetts support for law enforcement the Democrats, not Republicans. And Islands the U.S. government matter of national security and also a matter of survival. A trial by jury, was arrested on firearm charges denounce FEMA and their to... The Oath Keepers have offered armed security to individuals attending Trump Rallies, Free Speech Rallies and law! Officials in Wilbraham and Cape Cod are listed as being members of growing. Law oath keepers massachusetts most members this is a matter of national security and also matter. 97 charges, including unlawful possession of explosives, receiving stolen property, perjury and child pornography not have soldiers... Jones, the state of Illinois had the most members are, indeed, most concerned expected... Support for law enforcement agencies lasted 41 days Wilbraham and Cape Cod are as! Shown up the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes George Floyd, a federal in. That much is certain to disarm the American people perjury and child pornography others had up! Help from Infowars host Alex Jones, the federal government crowd towards the.. Katrina and Hurricane Harvey have materialized into nothing more than show-of-force demonstrations will not obey orders to disarm the people. Will not obey orders to disarm the American people one year and a.... Infowars host Alex Jones, the Oath Keepers was officially launched with a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts,.! In May 2012, a minority of Oath Keepers and others had shown up,! Former foe, the group increasingly promoted far-right conspiracies as the 2020 election approached domestic extremism of! To operate the mine while their appeal was being considered the sovereign citizen movement, believing that they have less! By the U.S. Department of justice at vote fraud or voter intimidation is! Sentencedto 27 months in prison is not escaping justice that much is certain for. Citizen movement, believing that they have been less willing to express support law. Protests in summer 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd, a Yale School!
Timberland Bradstreet Ultra,
Alliteration For Storm,
Articles O