Well Before The Jan. 6 Insurrection, Oath Keepers Trafficked in Violence and Conspiracy Theories
Since its founding, the antigovernment group Oath Keepers has steeped itself in conspiracy theories and trained for a revolution against the state.
Members鈥� involvement in the Capitol insurrection was the latest example in a long history of the group bucking government authority.
The Oath Keepers, who derive their name from the Constitution, vowing to protect the U.S. from all enemies foreign and domestic, took part in an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Motivated by Trump鈥檚 rhetoric and buoyed by the , the group parroted false claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump. In D.C., they collaborated with a violent mob who broke into the Capitol building, intent on stopping the certification of the election. Five people died as a result of the attack.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, in tandem with Alex Jones and Owen Shroyer of Infowars, called on Americans to go to D.C. to 鈥渟tand up against election theft.鈥� On Nov. 10, Rhodes made an appearance on Infowars, where he is a regular guest, and declared that Americans should converge on D.C. the way they stormed up to the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.
The FBI later charged for their role in the insurrection: Jessica Marie Watkins and Donovan Ray Crowl of Champaign County, Ohio, and Thomas Caldwell of Clarke County, Virginia.
Watkins and Crowl belonged to the Ohio State Regular Militia, a subset of Oath Keepers that paid dues to the organization, according to the FBI.
Caldwell, Crowl and Watkins were of conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, destruction of government property and unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds.
According to a filed Feb. 11 that recommended Watkins face pre-trial detention, 鈥淲atkins joined a violent mob that overwhelmed law enforcement and destroyed government property, re-creating in modern times events not seen in this nation since the War of 1812. In this backdrop, Watkins and her co-conspirators formed a subset of the most extreme insurgents that plotted then tried to execute a sophisticated plan to forcibly stop the results of a Presidential Election from taking effect. And she did this in coordination and in concert with a virulently antigovernment militia members.鈥�
wearing Oath Keepers attire were seen inside the Capitol building. Oath Keepers directed other members to wear plain clothes according to the organization鈥檚 website: 鈥淎s always, while conducting security operations, we will have some of our men out in 鈥榞rey man鈥� mode, without identifiable Oath Keepers gear.鈥�
Members of the group were also spotted at a 鈥淪top the Steal鈥� protest in Washington on Jan. 5, the evening before the attack on the Capitol.
Who are the Oath Keepers?
Oath Keepers is a large, extremist organization, which was incorporated as a domestic nonprofit in Nevada in 2009 with a number of . The group鈥檚 membership is open to the public, and claims to be principally military veterans, law enforcement officers and first responders. Multiple members .
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, also known as Elmer Stewart Rhodes, is an Army veteran and disbarred Montana lawyer. Rhodes has been accused of regularly pulling a gun out during domestic disputes with his wife.
The group has an explicit agenda of recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first responders to their ranks. The main goal of this focused recruitment effort is to capitalize on the skills and knowledge these individuals obtained during their time of service.
The three Oath Keepers indicted for their insurrection-related activities are all veterans. , and .
The group鈥檚 name is derived from the oaths taken by military and law enforcement, and is based on following the rules and regulations of those above them in the chain of command. The Oath Keepers mission is to influence its members to obey the group鈥檚 own interpretation of the Constitution, even if it means disobeying the orders of their commanders, U.S. lawmakers or judges. The organization has published a list of 10 orders they refuse to obey, including disarming the American people or detaining them as unlawful enemy combatants.
Trump鈥檚 volunteer security detail
The organization鈥檚 role in the insurrection was the latest in a series of pro-Trump activities the group participated in during his presidency. Oath Keepers and Three Percenters organized to act as volunteer security for Trump鈥檚 inauguration in 2017, and for Trump rallies in , and in .
When Trump falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was a fraud and he won, despite official parties to the vote count contending that he lost, Oath Keepers stood by him, parroting his false claims and making plans to fight back. 鈥淲e鈥檒l also be on the outside of D.C., armed, prepared to go in, if the president calls us up鈥� during his Nov. 10 Infowars appearance.
Rhodes suggested Trump invoke the Insurrection Act during the same appearance on Infowars. He also claimed: 鈥淲e have men already stationed as a nuclear option in case they attempt to remove the president illegally. We will step in and stop it.鈥�
Oath Keepers took part in multiple 鈥淪top the Steal鈥� protests, which supported Trump鈥檚 claims that the election was stolen. Oath Keepers attended the Nov. 14 Million MAGA March in D.C. and provided armed security for the Nov. 21 rally in Atlanta, Georgia. Many of the who stormed the Capitol in Washington weeks later were present at both.
History of defying the government
Oath Keepers first came to the public鈥檚 attention on April 19, 2009, when they held a muster at Lexington Green in Massachusetts.
Five years later, on April 16, 2014, Rhodes called his members to action, requesting they come armed to the standoff at Bundy Ranch in Nevada. 鈥淭his might go down in history as the first engagement of the modern American revolution,鈥� Rhodes said.
Oath Keepers went on to Ferguson, Missouri, inserting themselves into protests that followed the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.
Members descended upon Ferguson in December 2014. They stood armed on rooftops and the street providing unlicensed security to businesses in the area until the police threatened to arrest them.
On Aug. 11, 2015, the group , armed to the teeth, providing security to an Infowars reporter. 鈥淭heir presence was both unnecessary and inflammatory,鈥� St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said.
In April 2015, Oath Keepers supported the proprietors of Sugar Pine Mine in Oregon, involving themselves in a second dispute between property owners in the West and the federal Bureau of Land Management. About 700 volunteers, some openly armed, showed up, according to the Josephine County Oath Keepers.
Oath Keepers would later reach out to Rowan County, Kentucky, court clerk Kim Davis. In September 2015 the group offered Davis an Oath Keepers security detail after she was arrested for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The group claimed they could protect her from being re-arrested. Davis turned their offer down.
Conspiracy theorists
Oath Keepers has circulated antigovernment conspiracy theories about QAnon and so-called 鈥済lobalists,鈥� an imagined shadowy group of prominent individuals, often , who are working to create a one-world power that would threaten U.S. national sovereignty.
Rhodes regularly uses his Infowars platform to share his , and repeats Infowars propaganda on the Oath Keepers website. Most recently Rhodes has echoed Alex Jones allegations that a globalist Chinese alliance, , is plotting to destroy the country and the world.
In October 2020, Rhodes spoke at the Red Pill Expo, , held in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
Recently, the Oath Keepers have promoted QAnon. 鈥淚 think 鈥楺鈥� is another way for the current administration to communicate with us directly,鈥� wrote Nancy Oakley, a regular contributor to the Oath Keepers website. The post, which included 鈥淨 drops,鈥� was published Oct. 10, 2018, under the header 鈥渘ews.鈥�
Since its inception, the group has pointed to nonexistent government tyranny, called former President Obama a dictator, asserted that 鈥済lobalists want to destroy 鈥� cultures and identities鈥� and made claims that Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, the mainstream media and the ever-vilified George Soros are some of the globalists鈥� most prominent perpetrators.
On June 6, 2018, the group crossed the Rubicon into full-blown conspiracy theorists. One week prior, antigovernment activist Michael Lewis Arthur Meyers found a skull in the Arizona desert, as well as other items including a stroller, a crib, brown hair dye and a tree with restraints. Meyers it was a child鈥檚 skull, the tree was a 鈥渞ape tree鈥� and the items belonged to child sex traffickers. He would later claim .
Meyers and his crew , preparing for a standoff, and requested people show up to assist. Oath Keepers heeded the call.
On June 6, 2018, the group鈥檚 website published an article titled 鈥淥ath Keepers Call to Action: Operation Child Shield in Tucson, Arizona,鈥� writing, 鈥淲e need skilled LEO, military, and search and rescue volunteers to search for, locate, and secure additional suspected child sex trafficking sites in Tucson, Arizona.鈥� The post also attempted to amplify Meyers鈥� 鈥渞ape tree鈥� claim.
Local and federal authorities .
鈥淏ased on the department鈥檚 investigation to this point, there is no indication this camp is being used for any type of criminal activity, including human trafficking,鈥� the Tucson Police Department said in a statement to Buzzfeed News.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was equally emphatic, stating: 鈥淎s part of our work investigating criminal smuggling activity on the US/Mexico border, we are familiar with this area and the homeless camps. However, we concluded there is nothing there that would validate the reporting on social media.鈥�
Civil war
The second revolutionary war may not have come about as a result of the Bundy standoff in Nevada, as Rhodes predicted, but the organization has continued to promote the idea of a present or inevitable civil war.
Rhodes made the following statement on the Oath Keepers Twitter account on Aug. 30, 2020, responding to the killing of Aaron 鈥淛ay鈥� Danielson in Portland, Oregon:
The first shot has been fired brother. Civil war is here, right now. We鈥檒l give Trump one last chance to declare this a Marxist insurrection & suppress it as his duty demands.
If he fails to do HIS duty, we will do OURS.
鈥淎gainst all enemies, foreign and domestic鈥�
Stewart
Oath Keepers was as a result of that tweet, which violated the company鈥檚 violent organizations policy.
On Dec. 14, 2020, Rhodes pleaded with Trump in an open letter to him on the Oath Keepers website:
This is your moment of destiny. Will you take your place in history as the savior of our Republic, right up there with President Washington and Lincoln? Or will you fail to act, while you still can, and leave office on January 20, 2021, leaving We the People to fight a desperate revolution/civil war against an illegitimate usurper and his Chicom puppet regime?
In a Dec. 23, 2020, follow-up to the first open letter, Rhodes wrote: 鈥淒o your duty, and do it now. Recognize you are already in a war, and you must act as a wartime president, and there is not a minute to lose.鈥�
What comes next
On Jan. 19, Rhodes posted a 鈥渞ed alert鈥� to the Oath Keepers website. It began with a conspiracy-laced rant that labeled the Biden administration as illegitimate and accused it of being a Chinse global elite puppet, intent on enslaving Americans.
Rhodes鈥� 鈥渞ed alert鈥� shared recommendations, which he called warning orders. He suggested members be careful of false-flag events, start prepping and prepare for 鈥渁n intentional power blackout鈥� or EMP strike from 鈥淐hicom/Globalists.鈥�
He also suggested people create county militias, and muster the militias at the state level 鈥渋n a friendly 鈥榬ed鈥� county where you have a patriotic constitutional sheriff, county commissioners, county judge, etc.鈥�
Rhodes claimed that the group was not calling for violence, but added a sizable caveat.
鈥淧repare to walk the same path as the Founding Fathers,鈥� pronounced Rhodes, advocating for his members to the current U.S. government.
