Charges from US Capitol insurrection roil Proud Boys and Oath Keepers – WRBL

Former President Donald Trumpslies about a stolen 2020 electionunited right-wing supporters, conspiracy theorists and militants on Jan. 6, but the aftermath ofthe insurrectionis roiling two of the most prominent far-right extremist groups at the U.S. Capitol that day.

More than three dozen members and associates across boththe Proud Boysandthe Oath Keepershave been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot.

Some extremism experts see parallels between the fallout from the Capitol riot and the schisms that divided far-right figures and groups after their violent clashes with counter-protesters atthe Unite the Right white nationalist rallyin Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The white supremacist alt-right movementfractured and ultimately faded from public viewafter the violence erupted that weekend.

I think something kind of like that is happening right now in the broader far-right movement, where the cohesive tissue that brought them all together being the 2020 election its kind of dissolved, said Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Like Unite the Right, there is a huge disaster, a P.R. disaster, and now theyve got the attention of the feds. And its even more intense now because they have the national security apparatus breathing down their necks, he added.

But others believe President Joe Bidens victory and the Jan. 6 investigation, the largest federal prosecution in history, might animate the militia movement fueled by an anti-government anger.

Were already seeing a lot of this rhetoric being spewed in an effort to pull in people, said Freddy Cruz, a Southern Poverty Law Center research analyst who studies anti-government groups. Its very possible that people will become energized and try to coordinate more activity given that we have a Democratic president in office.

Theinsurrectionists who descended on the nations capitalbriefly disrupted the certification of Bidens presidential win and sent terrified lawmakers running for their lives.

The mob marched to the Capitol andbroke through police barricades and overwhelmed officers, violently shoving their way into the building to chants of Hang Mike Pence and Stop the Steal. Some rioters came prepared with pepper spray, baseball bats and other weapons.

Members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers make up just a small fraction ofthe more than 400 people chargedso far. Prosecutors have narrowed in on the two extremist groups as they try to determine how much planning went into the attack, but authorities have said theyre intent on arresting anyone involved in the riot.

More than two dozen Proud Boys leaders, members or associates are among those arrested. The group of self-described Western chauvinists emerged from far-right fringes during the Trump administration to mainstream GOP circles, with allies likelongtime Trump backer Roger Stone. The group claims it has more than 30,000 members nationwide.

In the sustainedprotests last summer over police brutality, their counter demonstrations often devolved into violence. Law enforcement stepped in during a protest in Michigan. Members were accused ofvandalizing propertyin Washington, D.C. Then, during a presidential debate with Biden, the group gained greater notoriety after Trump refused to condemn white supremacist groups and told the Proud Boys directlyto stand back and stand by.

Chairman Henry Enrique Tarrio hasnt been charged in the riot. He wasnt there on Jan. 6. Hed beenarrested in an unrelated vandalism caseas he arrived in Washington two days before the insurrection and was ordered out of the area by a judge. Law enforcement later said Tarrio was picked up in part to help quell potential violence.

Tarrio insists the criminal charges havent weakened or divided the group. He says he has met with leaders of chapters that declared their independence and patched up their differences.

Weve been through the wringer, Tarrio said in an interview. Any other group after January 6th would fall apart.

But leaders of several local Proud Boys chapters, including in Seattle, Las Vegas, Indiana and Alabama, said after Jan. 6 that their members were cutting ties with the organizations national leadership. Four leaders, including national Elders Council member Ethan Nordean, have been charged by federal officials with planning and leading an attack on the Capitol. One of Nordeans attorneys said he wasnt responsible for any crimes committed by other people.

The Las Vegas chapters statement on the instant messaging platform Telegram in February didnt mention Jan. 6 directly, but it claimed the overall direction of the organization was endangering its members.

The Alabama group expressed concern about reports that Tarrio had previously beena federal informant. It was revealed in court records recently that Tarrio had worked undercover and cooperated with investigators after he was accused of fraud in 2012.

We reject and disavow the proven federal informant, Enrique Tarrio, and any and all chapters that choose to associate with him, the Alabama group posted online in February.

Tarrio said he suspended national Proud Boy rallies shortly after Jan. 6 in part to focus on helping members facing criminal charges. Tarrio described Jan. 6 as horrible but said authorities overcharged his jailed lieutenants and are politically persecuting them.

Meanwhile, 16 members and associates of the Oath Keepers a militia group founded in 2009 that recruits current and former military, police and first responders have been charged with conspiring to block the certification of the vote. The groups founder and leader, Stewart Rhodes, has said there were as many as 40,000 Oath Keepers at its peak, but one extremism expert estimates the groups membership stands around 3,000 nationally.

Rhodes has not been charged, and its unclear if he will be. But he has repeatedly come up in court documents as Person One, suggesting hes a central focus of investigators.

Days after the election, Rhodes instructed his followers during a GoToMeeting call to go to Washington to let Trump know that the people are behind him, and he expressed hope that Trump would call up the militia to help the president stay in power, authorities say. Rhodes warned they could be headed for a bloody, bloody civil war, and a bloody you can call it an insurrection or you can call it a war or fight, according to court documents.

On Jan. 6, several Oath Keepers, wearing helmets and reinforced vests, were seen on camera shouldering their way up the Capitol steps in a military-style stack formation. Rhodes was communicating that day with some Oath Keepers who entered the Capitol and was seen standing with several of the defendants outside the building after the riot, prosecutors say.

Rhodes has sought to distance himself from those whove been arrested, insisting the members went rogue and there was never a plan to enter the Capitol. But he has continued in interviews with right-wing hosts since Jan. 6 to pushthe lie that the election was stolen, while the Oath Keepers website remains active with posts painting the group as the victim of political persecution.

Messages left at numbers listed for Rhodes werent immediately returned.

Court documents show discord among the group as early the night of the attack. Someone identified in the records only as Person Eleven blasted the Oath Keepers in a Signal chat with Rhodes and others as a huge fn joke and called Rhodes the dumbass I heard you were, court documents say.

Two months later, Rhodes lamented in a message to another Oath Keeper that the national team had gotten too lax and too complacent. He pledged to tighten up the command and control in the group even if it means losing some people, according to court documents.

After the riot, the North Carolina Oath Keepers branch said it was splitting from Rhodes group. Its president, who didnt return messages from the AP, toldThe News Reporternewspaper it wouldnt be a part of anything that terrorizes anybody or goes against law enforcement.

A leader of an Arizona chapter also slammed Rhodes and those facing charges,saying on CBS 60 Minutesthat the attack goes against everything weve ever taught, everything we believe in.

The Oath Keepers leader has also suggested the group may be facing financial pressures. In an interview posted on the Oath Keepers website, Rhodes said it has been difficult for the group to raise money as its been kicked off certain websites.

The group also lost the ability to process credit card payments online after the company demanded that Rhodes disavow the arrested members and he refused, Rhodes said in a March interview for far-right website Gateway Pundit. The Oath Keepers website now says it cannot accept new memberships online because of malicious leftist attacks and instructs people to mail in applications and dues.

A member of the Oath Keepers was the first defendantto plead guilty in the riot. Jon Ryan Schaffer has also agreed to cooperate with the governments investigation. The Justice Department has promised to consider putting him in the witness security program, suggesting it sees him as a valuable cooperator in the Jan. 6 probe.

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Charges from US Capitol insurrection roil Proud Boys and Oath Keepers - WRBL