Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes seems on a video display throughout a listening to on the Jan. sixth investigation on July 12. Photograph: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos
A whole lot of elected officers, army members, and regulation enforcement officers seem on the membership lists of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, in keeping with a brand new report revealed Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
Why it issues: The Oath Keepers have risen to nationwide prominence for his or her alleged function within the lethal Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
- The occasions of Jan. 6 additionally highlighted recent considerations about home extremism within the army, after a number of former and present army members have been charged for his or her involvement within the Capitol riot.
State of play: The leaked membership record was revealed by the journalism collective Distributed Denial of Secrets and techniques (DDoSecrets) in September 2021. The ADL’s Middle on Extremism went by means of the 38,000 names on the lists to determine those that held “delicate positions,” the group stated within the report.
- The ADL recognized 373 folks named on the Oath Keepers membership record who’re at present serving in regulation enforcement companies throughout the U.S., together with a minimum of 10 chiefs of police and 11 sheriffs.
- The group additionally recognized 117 folks at present serving within the army, on high of 11 folks serving within the reserves and one other 31 who’re army contractors or maintain civilian positions.
- It stated the record included “86 lively firefighters (together with a number of hearth chiefs), 19 lively paramedics, and 31 lively emergency technicians showing within the membership record.”
- The ADL recognized 81 individuals who have been holding or operating for public workplace throughout the nation as of Aug. 8. “These people run the gamut from native workplace — mayors, city councilmembers, faculty board members — to state representatives and senators,” the report acknowledged.
Value noting: “A person’s inclusion within the Oath Keeper database shouldn’t be proof that they have been or are nonetheless an Oath Keeper, that they maintain or held all or a few of Oath Keeper ideology or viewpoints, or that they ever actively participated in Oath Keeper actions,” the ADL’s report acknowledged.
The massive image: Earlier this 12 months federal prosecutors alleged {that a} group of Oath Keepers stockpiled an arsenal of rifles and ammunition simply outdoors D.C. as a part of an operation to cease the presidential transition of energy on Jan. 6.
