A membership list of ultra-right wing extremist group Oath Keepers that was recently leaked includes the names of hundreds of police officers and members of American military branches.
The Associated Press reported that the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism obtained the list from a hacked data base and identified 370 people believed to be currently working as police officers, including many serving as chiefs and sheriffs.
The list also includes over 100 active members of the military and over 80 people who are running for or have served in public office before.
The AP reached out to some of the people on the list, and many of them are immediately trying to distance themselves from the extremist group who played a large role in the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021.
Shawn Mobley, a county sheriff in Colorado, told the AP that the group was now “far too extreme for me” because of their involvement in the standoff with law enforcement at the Bundy Ranch in 2014.
Phil Jensen, a state rep in South Dakota, told the AP that he paid for a one-year membership in 2014 but is no longer associated with the group at all:
“Back in 2014, they appeared to be a pretty solid conservative group, I can’t speak to them now.”
Several members of Oath Keepers, including its founder Stewart Rhodes, have been charged with seditious conspiracy over their role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The ADL’s Center on Extremism report noted that more than 600 people with “power and influence,” such as elected officials, first responders, and law enforcement officials, were listed in the database.
According to the report, the data was obtained and published by collective journalism group Distributed Denial of Secrets last fall and contain information on anyone had previously paid dues to Proud Boys.
