Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers - Founded by [[Stewart Rhodes]] ![[Pasted image 20250114104123.png]] - 2/3 of membership are former military or law enforcement and 1/10 are active duty military or law enforcement. - They are a loose group of affiliated "chapters" and militias who in general are anti-government and believe the government is trying to infringe on our rights. - Ironically, they also believe the 2020 election was stolen, as 20 members have been indicted for federal crimes relating to their role in the [[Jan 6 Insurrection]]. - Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy, and another leader, [[Kelly Meggs]], was sentenced to 12 years for the same crime. - A total of 9 Oath Keepers would eventually be convicted for seditious conspiracy - The organizing conspiracy that motivates the Oath Keepers is the idea that the government is intentionally causing or allowing discord in order to declare martial law, and that it is the Oath Keepers job to police that discord. - This is... odd, considering their "libertarian" nature (Rhodes was a staffer for [[Ron Paul]]) and that their policing is both at odds with their law enforcement members and with their insistence on freedom, etc. - This ideology has a pretty easy dovetail into more fascistic ideologies like the [[white genocide]] ideology: "liberals are letting minorities in so they can increase crime so that they can crack down on our freedoms" - Rhodes likes to talk about his military service, but he was honorably discharged after 7 months in the military after suffering a spinal injury at airborne school. - He also went to [[Yale Law School]] but was disbarred by the [[Montana]] supreme court for violating professional conduct rules. - A former leader, [[Jason Tatenhove]], believes that Rhodes is basically cashing in on the Oath Keepers as a brand, which would not at all be surprising. - Many military Oath Keepers left after Rhodes seemingly took a more radical right turn around Trump's election - It is very likely that the Oath Keepers used their semi-tax deductible status to solicit donations that were used to transport members to the [[Jan 6 Insurrection]] - In September 2021, hackers breached the servers of the Oath Keepers and leaked information belonging to 38,000 members and applicants. Dozens of LEOs had apparently tried to join the group _after_ the [[Jan 6 Insurrection]], and multiple elected officials were found to be linked to the group. - 370 members at the time of the breach were active LEOs and over 100 were current military personnel. - After Rhodes went to prison, [[Kellye SoRelle]], Rhodes girlfriend and, hysterically, the general counsel for the Oath Keepers, became the leader of the group. She was charged in relation to Jan 6 but was found not mentally competent to stand trial and only plead guilty to obstruction of justice and breaching capitol grounds. Eventually, she became competent to stand trial somehow, and is possibly facing 16 months in prison - It was later revealed by [[John Williams]], some sort of independent mole that infiltrated the [[Three Percenters]], that [[Robert "Bobby" Kinch]] took the helm after Kellye was ordered to disaffiliate from the organization. He was a detective with the [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]] Municipal Police Department. He "voluntarily resigned" after facebook posts were found wherein he called for an imminent race war and pointed a handgun at an image of then-president [[Barack Obama]]. - [[Charles Dyer (July4Patriot)]], a former [[US Marine]] and YouTuber, was a big Tea Party Guy. He also represented the Oath Keepers at Tea Party rallies, before he was charged with child rape and illegal weapons possession. He was charged and convicted for raping his seven year old daughter. He got 30 years for those charges - [[Richard Mack]] is a former sheriff of [[Graham County]], [[Arizona]] and serves as an Oath Keepers Board Member. He founded the [[Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA)]] and is A Big Gun Advocacy Guy. - [[Wendy Rogers]] is an [[Arizona]] state senator and stated that she was a member of the Oath Keepers and was associated with the [[Oath Keepers - Arizona]] chapter after the Jan 6 insurrection. - [[Kelly Meggs]] lead the [[Oathkeepers - Florida Chapter]]. He lead the "stack" formation of Oath Keepers inside the capitol and entered [[Nancy Pelosi]]'s office during the [[Jan 6 Insurrection]]. - The board also included at one point [[Michele Imburgia]], [[Rex H. McTyeire]], [[John D. Shirley]], [[Steven C. Homan]], [[Jim Ayala]] and [[Jay Stang]]. - Several members of the Oath Keepers had discussed bringing "heavy weapons" via boat across the Potomac to the capitol as folks invaded it on Jan 6. - [[Thomas Caldwell]], who was not in the capitol but was directing members from home via Facebook, told members where legislators allegedly were and told them to "turn on the gas" in the tunnels. - [[Kelly Meggs]] contacted [[Proud Boys]] in an attempt to use them as a "force multiplier" and formed the trio of the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and the [[Three Percenters - Florida Chapter]] - [[Jason Nolan]], an Oath Keeper member, had stashed weaponry at a [[Virginia]] hotel room to act as a "quick reaction force" a la [[Thomas Caldwell]] if Trump called on them. - [[James Breheny]] was a regional organizer for the Oath Keepers and was sentenced to 36 months of probation. - [[William Todd Wilson]], leader of the [[Oath Keepers - North Carolina]] chapter, plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and received home detention and probation in [[North Carolina]] - [[Joshua James]] of [[Arab]], [[Alabama]], leader of the [[Oath Keepers - Alabama Chapter]], provided security for [[Roger Stone]] on January 6. He plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and turned state's witness (lol) and received 3 years probation - [[Brian Ulrich]] of [[Guyton]], [[Georgia]] plead guilty and was sentenced to three years probation, 6 months of home detention and 120 hours of community service. - [[Kenneth Harrelson]] of [[Titusville]], [[Florida]] was indicted and plead not guilty to seditious conspiracy and was sentenced to four years - [[Jessica Watkins]] of [[Woodstock]], [[Ohio]] was charged and sentenced to 8.5 years - [[Thomas Caldwell]] of [[Berryville]], [[Virginia]], a former [[US Navy]] Lt. Commander and held a top-secret clearance for decades and also worked for the [[FBI]] was also implicated in the trial. - Three former members testified against Rhodes and other members of the org: [[Graydon Young]], an Oath Keeper from [[Florida]], [[Jason Dolan]], an Oath Keeper from [[Florida]], and [[Laura Steele]], an Oath Keeper from [[North Carolina]] who is sister to Graydon Young. - [[Roberto Minuta]], [[Joseph Hackett]], [[Edward Vallejo]] and [[David Moerschel]] were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Minuta was sentenced to 54 months, Vallejo was sentenced to 36 months, Moerschel was sentenced to 36 months and Hackett to 42 months. - [[Connie Meggs]], an Oath Keeper from [[Dunnellon]], [[Florida]] and wife of [[Kelly Meggs]], was sentenced to 15 months. - [[Michael Greene]] was a contractor that did security for but supposedly was not a member of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to misdemeanor tresspassing. - [[Donovan Crowl]] and [[James Beeks]] also went to trial. Beeks was acquitted and Crowl was convicted of conspiracy and civil disorder. - They were present at the [[Bundy Ranch standoff of 2014]], the [[Sugar Pine Mine standoff in 2015]] and provided security for [[Patriot Prayer]] at the behest of [[Joey Gibson]] in 2017. - They were, of course, present in [[Ferguson]], [[Missouri]] after the grand jury ruling on [[the police shooting of Michael Brown]] in 2014. They "patrolled rooftops" after the local police told them to stop. They reappeared in 2015 on the one year anniversary of the shooting to protect members of [[InfoWars]]. - [[Dan Page]], the [[St. Louis]] police commissioner who was fired for pushing [[Don Lemon]], was found to have been in a video with Oath Keepers talking about how he was a killer and will kill a whole bunch more if he needs to. - Rhodes repeatedly has referred to the need and inevitability of killing antifascist protesters.