Rhodes formally launched the Oath. 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. 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. The Oath Keepers was officially launched with a rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, on Apr. Most of this is derived from the Oath Keepers' list of 10 laws or mandates titled, "Declaration Of Orders We Will Not Obey." But they chose Massachusetts as the site for the group's formal launch in 2009. FILE - Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. He talks. He formally launched the Oath Keepers in Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2009, where the first shot in the American Revolution was fired. The Oath Keepers did not have 25,000 soldiers at the ready. Several Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, have been hit with seditious. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to keep the peace or to maintain control.. And you can bet that if you let them take away your military semi-autos, next on their list will be bolt action rifles, which they will call sniper rifles (and By God, that is certainly what they are good for! The first order, for example, that they refuse to follow is any order to disarm the American people. They also pledge to disobey any order to impose martial law or to support foreign troops on American soil. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as unlawful enemy combatants or to subject them to military tribunal. 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 . 19, 2009, in the wake of the country electing Barack Obama as its first Black president. Ritzheimer pleaded guilty and received a prison sentence of one year and a day. They are often confrontational and have participated in multiple armed standoffs against the government. When two ranchers near Burns, Oregon, were ordered back to prison for arson of public lands after an appeals court decided their initial sentences were too short, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of Cliven, got involved. The other orders they refuse to follow are of a similar sort. The Oath Keepers say that their mission is to defend the . Then after we convict him he should be hung by the neck until dead. Stewart Rhodes, at an event in Tempe, Arizona, May 5, 2015, It is the height of Orwellian perversion of language and logic to say that disarming you of the most effective arms for combat that you still have is somehow not really disarming you, because you still have hunting rifles and shotguns. The group also has a long history of engaging in and promoting their own form of vigilantism by providing voluntary armed security, not affiliated with any law enforcement entity, at various protests and venues. Oath Keepers founder used money donated to the far-right group for holiday travel and personal expenses: January 6 trial. Members patrolled the site of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, and polling locations in 2016 and 2020, allegedly to discourage and report voter fraud. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people. In response to the racial unrest that followed, Rhodes postedthe following statementto the groups Facebook account: I see some of you conflicted about how to handle whats going on in the streets of this country, I too was conflicted but let me say this. Throughout his presidency, Oath Keepers fully embraced Trump, including Rhodes, who was seated in the VIP section at Trumps 2019 rally in El Paso, Texas. We are already in a fight. Minuta later was connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, acting as a security guard for Roger Stone earlier that morning before participating in the insurrection himself later that day. This invasion/coup must be stopped, and with the ongoing failure of the RINO dominated Republicans to finance a wall, stopping it will now require full scale military action, which we strongly encourage President Trump to take under his authority as Commander In Chief. Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers Call to Action: Border Operation, on the Oath Keepers website, Dec. 4, 2018, This wave of Islamist terror attacks will be part of a perfect storm of intentionally orchestrated Cloward-Piven chaos inducing economic devastation, social and political disruption and violence, and the use of intentionally undefended borders and mass illegal and refugee immigration as weapons of destabilization (and to provide cover for and facilitate more violence and terrorism by multiple proxy agents of the elites, including the cartels, gangs, well-funded Marxist and racist agitators such as La Raza and Black Lives Matter and radical Islamist cells and individuals). Stewart Rhodes, in an Oath Keepers press release following the mass murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, June 13, 2016, John [Mc]Cain is a traitor to the Constitution. While criticizing the occupation, the Oath Keepers did take part in a coalition of militias in the Pacific Northwest called the Pacific Patriots Network, which served as a buffer between the occupiers and government forces. Antigovernment rhetoric energized his defense and underpinned his lack of cooperation in the case. In 2015, Rhodes said they would protect notorious Kentucky clerk Kim Davis from arrest. The Nevada-based nonprofit was founded by Yale Law School graduate and former U.S. Army paratrooper Elmer "Stewart" Rhodes. Shane Burley, the author ofFascism Today: What It Is and How to End It,wrote forNBC Newsthat the outcome of the trial was undoubtedly "a net benefit" for democracy. Maybe you better read that Oath again it said protect the constitution from all enemies foreign and or heres the part you better read slowly. Once these thugs turned to burning, killing and looting, they became domestic enemies.. The events of Jan. 6 also highlighted fresh . Since shifting their approach, the Oath Keepers have provided security to businesses that have refused to follow state lockdown orders while maintaining a presence at anti-lockdown rallies across the nation. [A group spokesman] will tell you that everyone was vetted properly. Massachusetts - site of . McLamb warned of postCold War chaos perpetrated by an elitistcontrolled New World Order, while Rhodes warns of an insidious global oligarchy bent on destroying Americas constitutional republic. The Oath Keepers wereparticularly active in 2020, participating in various anti-lockdown protests, providing vigilante-style security for local communities and businesses during the Black Lives Matter protests that spread in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and warning about a potential takeover by the Marxist left during the 2020 election. 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. "While legal methods like lawsuits have proven effective, and prosecutions have dismantled some of the most dangerous far-right terrorist groups, the effort to fully unseat the rise of white nationalism willonly come from a mass wave of organized resistance. 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 Nevada-basednonprofitwas founded by Yale Law School graduate and former U.S. Army paratrooperElmerStewart Rhodes. 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. In April 2014, Rhodes and several fellow Oath Keepers traveled to theNevada ranchof Cliven Bundy, answering a nationwide call Bundy made asking militiamen to join him in standing up to federal officials seeking to seize his cattle because he had refused to pay federal grazing fees for some 20 years. Providing Security: The Oath Keepers frequently solicit volunteers to provide security in a variety of different contexts. I have a difficult time believing that 100 percent of the people were cleared or were 100 percent controllable.. The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of antigovernment extremists; membership data is closely guarded. The Oath Keepers did denounce the Malheur occupation because, asRhodes wrote, It is not being done with the consent of the locals or at their request, without the request of the Hammond family and because it is not in direct defense of anyone.. Strike now. Stewart Rhodes, Open Letter to President Trump: You Must Use Insurrection Act to Stop the Steal and Defeat the Coup, on the Oath Keepers website, Dec. 14, 2020, Frankly, were concerned about a Benghazi-style attack. In February 2015, Irish was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Armed confrontations with federal authorities during land disputes: The Oath Keepers have issued calls for action during disputes between ranchers or miners and federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers is a large right-wing anti-government extremist group. 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 . Huff was given a four-year prison sentence. On Nov. 14, the group attended theMillion MAGA Marchin D.C. and provided security at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Nov. 21. Though Twitter has not stated which specific posts they determined violated their policy, in the weeks leading up to their ban, the Oath Keepers Twitter account declared in the wake of the murder of Patriot Prayer member Aaron Danielson that there is a Marxist rebellion against the United States, with the oft stated intent to overthrow its government under the Constitution. The account urged President Trump to declare that there is an ongoing Marxist insurrection led by antifa and Black Lives Matter and to respond by calling the militia into federal service to suppress the rebellion.. Do NOT concede, and do NOT wait until January 20, 2021. Fairfield was indicted on 97 charges, including unlawful possession of explosives, receiving stolen property, perjury and child pornography. The list of orders the Oath Keepers vow to refuse reveals their extreme conspiratorial mindset, because the orders are not instructions likely to ever be actually handed down by officials; instead, they are reflective of the antigovernment conspiracy theories embraced by the extreme right. The core idea of Elmer Stewart Rhodes' group, the Oath Keepers, is that its members vow to support the oaths they took on joining law enforcement or the military to defend the Constitution forever and the group's own list of 10 "Orders We Will Not Obey."The list is a compendium of perceived, unrealized threats from the government - orders, for instance, to force Americans into . Its first Black president the site for the group & # x27 ; s formal in. 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