The names of hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers, elected officials and military members appear on the leaked membership lists of a far-right extremist group accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism investigated more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it says are currently employed by law enforcement agencies — including as police chiefs and sheriffs — and more than 100 people who are currently members of the military. .
It also identified more than 80 people who were running for or serving in public office as of early August. Membership information is bundled in a database published by the transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The data raises new concerns about the presence of extremists in law enforcement and the military charged with enforcing laws and protecting the US. It is especially problematic for officials to be associated with extremists at a time when lies about the 2020 election are fueling violence against lawmakers and institutions.
“Even for those who claimed to have left the organization when it began using more aggressive tactics in 2014, it is important to remember that the Oath Keepers have embraced extremism since their inception, and this fact was not enough to deter these individuals from doing so. to sign on,” the report said.
Appearing in the Oath Keepers database does not prove that a person was ever an active member of the group or shared its ideology. Some people on the list contacted by The Associated Press said they recently joined years ago and are no longer associated with the group. Some said they were never dues paying members.
“Their views are far too extreme for me,” said Otero County, Colorado sheriff, Shawn Mobley. Mobley told the AP in an email that he distanced himself from the Oath Keepers years ago over concerns over his involvement in the standoff against the federal government at Bundy Ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada, among others.
Founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, The Oath Keepers is a loosely organized, conspiracy theory-based group that recruits current and former military, police and first responders. It asks its members to swear to defend the Constitution “against all enemies, both foreign and domestic,” fostering the belief that the federal government seeks to deprive citizens of their civil liberties and portrays its followers as defenders against tyranny.
More than two dozen people associated with the Oath Keepers – including Rhodes – have been charged in connection with the January 6 attack. Rhodes and four other members or associates of Oath Keeper will face court this month on seditious conspiracy charges over what prosecutors have described as a weeks-long plot to keep President Donald Trump in power. Rhodes and the other oath keepers say they are innocent and that there was no plan to attack the Capitol.
The Oath Keepers have grown rapidly with the wider anti-government movement and have used the Internet to spread their message during Barack Obama’s presidency, said Rachel Carroll Rivas, interim deputy director of research at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. But since January 6 and Rhodes’ arrest, the group has struggled to retain members, she said.
That’s partly because Oath Keepers were so strongly associated with Rhodes that the removal of the central figure had an inordinate impact, and partly because many who were with the group were often those who wanted to be considered respectable in their community, she said.
“The image to be associated with January 6 was too much for many of those people,” she said.
Among the elected officials whose names appear on the membership lists is South Dakota State Representative Phil Jensen, who won a Republican primary in his bid for reelection in June. Jensen told the AP that in 2014 he paid for a one-year membership, never received Oath Keepers literature, attended meetings, or renewed his membership.
Jensen said he felt compelled to participate because he “believed in the oath we took to support and defend the U.S. Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic.” I don’t have enough information about the group today.
“In 2014 they seemed to be a pretty solid conservative group. I can’t talk to them now,” he said.
ADL said it has found the names of at least 10 people who now work as police chiefs and 11 sheriffs. All police chiefs and sheriffs who responded to the AP said they have no more ties to the group.
“I don’t even know what they’re posting. I never get updates,” said Mike Hollinshead, Idaho’s Elmore County Sheriff. “I don’t pay dues or membership fees or anything.”
Hollinshead, a Republican, said he was campaigning for sheriff several years ago when voters asked him if he was familiar with the Oath Keepers. Hollinshead said he wanted to learn more about the group and remembers paying to access content on the Oath Keepers website, but that was the extent of his involvement.
Benjamin Boeke, chief of police in Oskaloosa, Iowa, recalls getting emails from the group years ago saying he thinks a friend signed him up. But he said he never paid to join and knew nothing about the group.
Eric Williams, police chief in Idalou, Texas, also said in an email that he has not been a member of or interacted with the Oath Keepers in over 10 years. He called the storming of the Capitol “terrible in every way.”
“I pray that this country finds its way back to civility and peace in conversation with each other,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.
