Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Oath Keepers is an American far-right[1] anti-government militia[1][5] whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of presidential power as prescribed by the United States constitution.

[22] Oath Keepers were present wearing military fatigues during the 2014 and 2015 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri,[23][24][25] when members armed with semi-automatic rifles roamed streets and rooftops.

"[35][36] Oath Keepers was founded in March 2009 by Elmer Stewart Rhodes,[37][38][39] a Yale Law School graduate, former U.S. Army paratrooper, and former staffer for Republican Congressman Ron Paul.

In an October 2020 interview, reporter Mike Giglio of The Atlantic stated that in the preceding years, the Oath Keepers regarded President Donald Trump as "someone in the White House that they fully support", in contrast to their skepticism of previous Republican administrations.

[53][54][55] In 2019, the IRS granted tax-exempt status to the Louisiana-based Oath Keepers Educational Foundation, whose stated purpose on filings is to "give veterans an opportunity for continued involvement in community service."

[56][53] Following a joint report[57] from ISD and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) on the funding operations of hate groups, an expert at the GDI submitted in their February 25, 2021, statement before the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy of the Committee on Financial Services U.S. House of Representatives said: It can only be presumed that these funds, which listeners were notably able to deduct from their Federal taxes, went to transporting and lodging members of the group slated to participate in the ensuing riots.

[68] The list included[69] Rhodes is the leader of the Oath Keepers and was convicted of seditious conspiracy and evidence tampering with regard to the January 6 United States Capitol attack, as of November 29, 2022.

Kinch's role was revealed by John Williams, a vigilante mole and self-described “independent activist” who had successfully infiltrated the American Patriots Three Percent and rose to a leadership position there.

[78] Dyer is a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who operated as a prominent advocate for the Oath Keepers, maintaining a popular YouTube channel and acting as a representative at Tea Party rallies.

[87][88] The Oath Keepers board of directors at one point also included Michele Imburgia, Rex H. McTyeire, John D. Shirley, Steven C. Homan, Jim Ayala, and Jay Stang.

Under the title "DC OP: Jan 6 21," Rhodes stated in the chats that "quick reaction forces" outside Washington would be ready to respond if necessary and during the assault he directed members to rally on the southeast steps of the Capitol, from where they forcibly entered the building in a military-style "stack" formation.

[97][98] Thomas Caldwell, who was present during the incident, was jailed on conspiracy charges days after the attack, though in March 2021 federal judge Amit Mehta released him to home confinement pending trial, finding there was no evidence he entered the Capitol or planned to.

Caldwell also allegedly received directions in navigating the Capitol, including "Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down" and "Go through back house chamber doors facing N left down hallway down steps.

[101] In a June 2021 court filing arguing that a federal magistrate was wrong to release Oath Keeper member Jason Nolan from custody prior to his trial, prosecutors presented evidence he had stashed weapons in a Virginia hotel to arm a quick reaction force under the scenario described by Caldwell where Trump "calls us up as part of the militia to assist him inside DC."

[102] The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2021 that since the attack on the Capitol the Oath Keepers was splintering amid "a cash squeeze, internal discord, social-media cutoff and isolation from the financial system.

[105] CNN reported in May 2022 that top leaders of the group had been interviewed by the FBI and providing phones and digital files detailing how they had communicated with people in Trump's orbit.

The only exceptions were nine Oath Keepers (Rhodes, Meggs, Harrelson, Caldwell, Watkins, Minuta, Vallejo, Moerschel, and Hackett) and five Proud Boys (Nordean, Biggs, Rehl, Pezzola, and Bertino).

[148] The group's spokesman, Joey Gibson, announced that the Oath Keepers would be providing event security,[149] confirmed to the San Francisco Examiner on August 18 by Stewart Rhodes.

The Republican state senators had gone into hiding to prevent a vote on a cap-and-trade proposal aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to combat climate change.

On September 10, 2015, the Oath Keepers announced that they would travel to Rowan County, to prevent her arrest and jailing should she be held in contempt a second time for violating a court order prohibiting her from interfering with marriage licensing in her office.

[167][168][169][170] In late November 2014, during the unrest in Ferguson, the Oath Keepers put out a national request to its members to help in the city after the grand jury decision was released in the case of the shooting of Michael Brown.

About the perceived failure of the government's response to the unrest, the organization's founder, Stewart Rhodes, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "We thought they were going to do it right this time, but when Monday rolled around and they didn't park the National Guard at these businesses, that's when we said we have got to do something."

[45][172][173][174] According to an article in The Washington Post, "The men—all of them white and heavily armed—said they were in the area to protect someone who worked for the Web site InfoWars, which is affiliated with talk-radio conspiracy theorist and self-described 'thought criminal against Big Brother' Alex Jones."

"[175] One Ferguson activist, Ryan Herring, described their presence as intimidating and frightening and criticized the Oath Keepers for their suggestion that protestors should use their legal right to carry firearms by saying that this would have increased the tension with the police openly.

[176] St. Louis County police officer Dan Page was relieved of duty in 2014 after pushing and threatening with arrest CNN journalist Don Lemon on live television in Ferguson.

[179] Mike Giglio of The Atlantic reported that at a July 2020 meeting at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Rutherford County, Tennessee, founder Rhodes, speaking of the events of the racial unrest in the United States that year, said that antifa and other protesters "are insurrectionists, and we have to suppress that insurrection" and that "eventually they're going to be using IEDs" and consequently "us old vets and younger ones are going to end up having to kill these young kids and they're going to die believing they were fighting Nazis.

"[180] After three people were killed in protests in Portland, Oregon, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tweeted, "The first shot [of a civil war] has been fired brother.

[182] Larry Keller wrote in the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC's) 2009 report The Second Wave: Return of the Militias that the Oath Keepers "may be a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.

"[183] Keller described Richard Mack, an Oath Keeper, as a "longtime militia hero"[183][184] and quoted him as having said, "The greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our federal government.

"[188] Quoting the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2009, paleoconservative political commentator Pat Buchanan wrote for MSNBC: "Oath Keepers, depending on where one stands, are either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia."