On the leaked Oath Keepers membership list, elected US politicians, police chiefs, and soldiers named

According to a recent revelation, the identities of hundreds of US law enforcement officers, elected officials, and military personnel can be found on the leaked membership lists of a far-right extremist group that is suspected of having a significant hand in the January 6, 2021 uprising at the US Capitol. The transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets collated the membership data into a database that was made public. Oath Keepers charged over Capitol riot Stewart Rhodes created The Oath Keepers in 2009; it is a loosely organized, conspiracy-theory-fueled organization that seeks out both active-duty and retired members of the armed forces, law enforcement, and first aid personnel. It promotes the idea that the federal government is seeking to deprive people of their civil liberties and casts its adherents as defenders against tyranny. It demands members to swear to protect the constitution "against all adversaries, foreign and domestic." Since the attack on January 6, more than two dozen Oath Keepers members, including Rhodes, have been accused of wrongdoing. Rhodes asserts that they are not involved in any attack on the Capitol and that no such plan existed, in agreement with the other Oath Keepers. The Oath Keepers had rapidly expanded alongside the broader anti-government movement during Barack Obama's presidency, according to Rachel Carroll Rivas, interim deputy director of research with the Southern Poverty Law Center's intelligence project. They did this by using the internet and its tools to spread their message. Many listed deny ties to a group State Representative Phil Jensen of South Dakota, who prevailed in the Republican primary for re-election in June, is one of the elected officials whose names may be found on the membership lists. According to Mr. Jensen, despite having paid for a one-year membership in 2014, he never received any Oath Keepers literature, didn't go to any meetings, and didn't even renew his membership. Because he claimed to lack sufficient knowledge about the organization at the time, Mr. Jensen declined to declare if he now disavows the Oath Keepers. According to ADL, it discovered the identities of at least ten police chiefs and eleven sheriffs. All of the police chiefs and sheriffs that answered stated that they are no longer affiliated with the organization. Republican Mr. Hollinshead claimed that when voters inquired about his familiarity with the Oath Keepers during his sheriff race several years ago, he was running for office. He claimed he was interested in finding out more about the organization, and he may have paid to gain access to information on the Oath Keepers' website, but that was the end of his engagement. The police chief of Oskaloosa, Iowa, Benjamin Boeke, recalled receiving emails from the group in the past and speculated that a buddy may have registered him. In a separate email, Idalou, Texas police chief Eric Williams stated that he had not interacted with the Oath Keepers in more than ten years and had not been one of their members either.