Hundreds of elected US officials, military personnel and law enforcement officers appear on a leaked membership list of the far-right group the Oath Keepers, a report on Wednesday showed.
The civil rights organisation the Anti-Defamation League said it had identified 370 people on the 38,000-member list, and more than 100 work in the military.
The report also identified 80 people who are running or have served in public office as of early August.
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Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes in Eureka, Montana. Reuters -
The founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers and 10 others were indicted for seditious conspiracy in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol. AFP -
Henry Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers' founder Rhodes met in a car park on the evening before their groups attacked the US Capitol. Saboteur Media / Reuters -
Members of the Oath Keepers militia group occupy the steps of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Reuters -
Members of the Oath Keepers at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. AP -
Rhodes uses a radio as he departs with volunteers from a rally held by former president Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Reuters -
Rhodes speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington in June 2017. AP -
Rhodes appears in a detention hearing by a federal court to face seditious conspiracy charges relating to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Reuters -
The interim president of the Oath Keepers, Kelly SoRelle, speaks after Rhodes was taken to a federal court to face seditious conspiracy charges. Reuters -
Rhodes and other members cheer as they listen to Donald Trump Jr address a rally in El Paso, Texas, in February 2019. AFP -
A man in an Oath Keepers shirt stands outside the Kenosha County Courthouse in Wisconsin, the day Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after pleading self-defence in the Kenosha shootings. AP -
The criminal complaint with the arrest warrant for Oath Keeper member James Beeks. AP -
Alaska state representative David Eastman admitted to being a member of the Oath Keepers militia. AP
“The range of individuals represented in the Oath Keepers leak shows the extent to which this extremist ideology has gained acceptance,” the organisation said in its report.
The list raises fresh concerns about the presence of extremists in police units and the military, which are responsible for enforcing laws and protecting the US.
It is especially problematic for public servants to be associated with extremists at a time of increased threats of violence against politicians, agencies and institutions.
“Even for those who claimed to have left the organisation when it began to employ more aggressive tactics in 2014, it is important to remember that the Oath Keepers have espoused extremism since their founding, and this fact was not enough to deter these individuals from signing up,” the report says.
Appearing in the Oath Keepers’ database does not prove that a person was ever an active member of the group or that they share its ideology.
Some people on the list contacted by The Associated Press said they were briefly members years ago and are no longer affiliated with the group. Some said they were never dues-paying members.
The Anti-Defamation League said it found the names of at least 10 people who now work as police chiefs and 11 as sheriffs. All of the police chiefs and sheriffs who responded to AP said they no longer have any ties to the group.
The Oath Keepers, founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, is a loosely organised, conspiracy theory-fuelled group that recruits current and former military, police and first responders.
It asks its members to vow to defend the US Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic”, promotes the belief that the federal government is out to strip citizens of their civil liberties and paints its followers as defenders against tyranny.
More than two dozen people associated with the Oath Keepers — including Mr Rhodes — have been charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Mr Rhodes and four other Oath Keeper members or associates are heading to trial this month on seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors have described as a weekslong plot to keep then-president Donald Trump in power.
The Oath Keepers facing charges say that they are innocent and that there was no plan to attack the Capitol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
