Fairfield was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 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. This includes attendance at racially charged events, with NBC News reporting a number of armed Oath Keepers turned up at the 2015 protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Such behavior was in line with the Oath Keepers efforts to focus on opposing state governments rather than the Trump administration. The groups response to the 2020 outbreak of the coronavirus is discussed in more detail below; however, it is worth noting that the national organization initially shared material on its website and Twitter account calling for increased state government involvement in stemming the viruss spread before shifting its messaging and labelling the virus as a weapon used by leftists to attack President Trump and by the government to strip away Americans rights. Despite this clear evidence of involvement, themilitia movementhas by and large not reckoned with the role their conspiratorial beliefs and violent rhetoric played in the leadup to the insurrection. Massachusetts the site of the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. 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. The Oath Keepers did not have 25,000 soldiers at the ready. CPTs are armed community teams, or militias, meant to prepare for disasters, natural or otherwise, and defend Americans against the New World Order. But the Hammonds said they were planning on reporting to prison, did not want their help and asked them to return to Nevada. However, the outlet also noted that the tactics of the Oath Keepers were constantly shifting in an effort to evade law enforcement. During the pandemic, and the installation of public health safety measures, Oath Keepers responded by claiming to protect and supportbusinesses and business ownerswho reopened in defiance of these guidelines. The group is rooted in conspiracy theories, including the belief that the federal. Addresses from cities, suburbs, and rural areas all appeared on the list. Rhodes insists the government wants to track gun owners like it does sex offenders and uses mass shooting incidents as an excuse to violate Second Amendment rights. Thirty-nine seconds later, defendant Kelly Meggs, who was then leading about 14 Oath Keepers toward the Capitol, also called Rhodes. He was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The group openly and intentionally recruits these individuals to their ranks, mostly in an effort to capitalize on the skills and knowledge these individuals acquired during their time of service. Oath Keepers is an American far-right [1] anti-government militia [1] [3] whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of Presidential power as prescribed by the US Constitution. Nine seconds after that, Rhodes merged the two calls. Members told us at least 40 Oath Keepers were at the January 6 rally with some seen providing security to Trump associate Roger Stone. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the . Oath Keepers responded and were stationed in Granbury, Texas, outside Lift the Bar gym, supposedly to protect the owner from arrest for violating COVID-19 orders. Since then, the Oath Keepers have become a household name across the country. "Even if the most extreme actors are eliminated, the consequences of their ideas could remain," Burley added. Recent investigations have found direct ties between major police departments and the extremist right-wing militant group the Oath Keepers, which was a major player in the January 6 attack on the Capitol and regularly participates in violent intimidation of left-wing protesters.. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes . The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Divisions Counterterrorism Section. He would go on to start the Oath Keepers group in 2009 in Lexington, Massachusetts the site of the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. We think a good first step is to have the veterans stand up in every community and go help form and train neighborhood watches, to get the people to take back into their own hands their own personal self-defense and security.. Oath Keepers also responded to a request for protection by salon owner Shelley Luther when she reopened her business on April 24 against public health mandates and then tore up a cease-and-desist letter from local authorities. As a result, Rhodes argued, the Oath Keepers could not be found guilty because they were simply following their president's orders. In June 2017, Oath Keepers participated in March Against Sharia rallies organized by ACT for America, an anti-immigrant hate group. As the election neared, Rhodes ratcheted up his rhetoric. The group argued that the election was stolen from Trump and participated in several Stop the Steal protests. Well, I think what we have to realize is that, you know, Trump actually failed. At a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19 . The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of antigovernment extremists; membership data is closely guarded. Recently, these activities have increasingly taken the shape of natural disaster management. Eleven Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 12, 2022, and charged with seditious conspiracy, which is defined as a crime against the state. I have a difficult time believing that 100 percent of the people were cleared or were 100 percent controllable.. The extremist group is accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 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. Rhodes has said that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to preserve the ability of the people, who are the militia, to provide for their own security and to preserve the military capacity of the American people to resist tyranny and violations of their rights by oath breakers within government. Another Oath Keeper theory claims the Veterans Administration is busily deeming veterans mentally unfit in order to legally disarm Americans trained to fight, thereby paving the way for a foreign (New World Order) takeover. Westfield, Massachusetts, March 2011: Oath Keeper David M. Phillips was arrested in Massachusetts on charges of possession of ammunition without the required Firearms Identification Card and four counts of possession of a large capacity firearm feeding device. The group claims to have tens of thousands of members across the country and has notably directed most of its recruiting efforts toward people in public safety positions whotend to lean conservative. These beliefs, which encapsulate the oneworld government conspiracy theories that underpin the antigovernment movement, stoke paranoia, fan antigovernment sentiment and give them purpose. Kokesh entered an Alford plea and was given a suspended sentence for the initial drug and gun charges. 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. We Oath Keepers are both honor-bound and eager to be there in strength to do our part. Stewart Rhodes, posted on the Oath Keepers website, Jan. 4, 2021, You must act NOW as a wartime President, pursuant to your oath to defend the Constitution, which is very similar to the oath all of us veterans swore. Documents purported to be from the Oath Keepers, leaked by whistleblower group Distributed Denial of Secrets, show . The far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers claims to have thousands of members across the country. The Oath Keepers, which claims tens of thousands of present and former law enforcement officials and military veterans as members, is one of the largest far-right antigovernment groups in the U.S. today. Oath Keepers members have not limited their activities to spouting extreme antigovernment conspiracy theories as a number of people associated with the Oath Keepers have been involved in criminal incidents since its founding in 2009. The Oath Keepers declared theirmission accomplishedand ended the security operation in what they touted as a victory against the government. Based on its monitoring of the Oath Keepers, ADL estimates that the group has up to several thousand members, though the Oath Keepers have claimed far more. This militaristic group consists of national leadership and state, county and local chapters scattered across the country. At the same time, Oath Keepers have also organized or participated in armed confrontations with law enforcement in different parts of the country, such as the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada in 2014. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, what differentiates them from other anti-government extremist groups is their explicit focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement and first responder personnel. In a report published this week, COE identified 373 people in the Oath Keepers database believed to be active law enforcement officers, 117 people who seem to be currently serving in the military . 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 . A wide variety of conspiracy theories and fringe beliefs. The group's name refers to the oath to "defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic," sworn by members of the U.S. military and police force. WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia has returned an indictment, which was unsealed today, charging a member of the Oath Keepers with conspiracy and other charges for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. At 2:31 p.m.18 minutes after rioters breached the west front of the Capitol buildingthe Oath Keepers' operations leader that day, Michael Greene, called Rhodes. Its not the people who are there Im worried about its the ones from the fringe who want to join in. On Dec. 31, 2019, the Oath Keepers issued a call to action for the Lobby Day, stating that they were sending a team to Virginia to assist in organizing resistance to unconstitutional acts and to organize and train armed posses and militia. 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