Status: 09/26/2022 09:17 a.m
The leader of the extreme right-wing “Oath Keepers”, Stewart Rhodes, is due to appear in court today for the storming of the US Capitol. Extremism experts rate his militia as persistently dangerous.
It is about the violent attempts to storm the heart of American democracy. About the scenes of January 6, 2021, when hundreds of supporters of the then US President Donald Trump violently entered the seat of the US Congress in Washington.
In the crowd in front of the Capitol right from the start: Stewart Rhodes, leader of the extreme right-wing militia “Oath Keepers”. Rhodes, now 57, was a former US Army paratrooper who later trained as a lawyer at Yale University. He founded the “Oath Keepers” in 2009.
Fall planned for a long time
Rhodes is now on trial with four co-defendants on charges of “seditious conspiracy”. What is meant is an attempt to forcibly overthrow the government of the United States. Up to 20 years imprisonment.
According to the indictment, Rhodes planned the storming of the Capitol well in advance, directing members of his group by phone and text messages, and continued to procure weapons and other equipment for an attempted coup after January 6.
Stewart Rhodes is said to have plotted with the co-defendants with the aim of using violence to prevent the transfer of power after the presidential election.
Image: REUTERS
Dangerous militia
Former Oath Keepers spokesman Jason van Tatenhove, who has since distanced himself from the militia, told the congressional committee of inquiry into the Capitol storming in July:
The Oath Keepers are a dangerous militia driven in large part by the ego of Stewart Rhodes. He sees himself as a paramilitary leader. The vision of the ‘Oath Keepers’ includes violence, they also try to achieve their goals through lies and deception, through intimidation – and the use of violence.
Many soldiers and policemen as members
The extremism researcher Keven Ruby from the University of Chicago emphasizes that the “Oath Keepers” have recruited a particularly large number of former soldiers, police officers and other security forces compared to other right-wing extremist groups:
These people not only bring special experience in handling weapons, but also experience in organizing paramilitary actions. That was also shown at the Capitol on January 6th,” Ruby said in an interview with the television network PBS.
Scene on January 6, 2021 in front of the US Capitol. Attackers had forced their way into the Capitol, engaged in scuffles with police and vandalized offices of lawmakers. The members of Congress had to be taken to safety by the police, and some barricaded themselves. There were five dead.
Image: dpa
Militant anti-government sentiment widespread
Anti-Semitism researcher Jessica Reaves from the Anti-Defamation League recently analyzed a list of allegedly 38,000 members of the “Oath Keepers”. Many names on the list are only loosely connected to the group, and around 5,000 people can be described as active permanent members. In the PBS interview, Reaves also emphasized that the “Oath Keepers” are represented and organized in practically every US state: “That’s why the group and its views can be described as mainstream in a way, as widespread,” says Reaves.
“That’s frightening. Especially if you take another finding from our research, that a basic militant skepticism towards the government, an anti-government attitude, is widespread. The seeds of anti-government extremism are quite deeply planted.”
Storming the Capitol: Far-right ‘Oath Keepers’ in court
Ralf Borchard, ARD Washington, September 26, 2022 at 8:14 a.m