An Idaho sheriff and state representative said they are not members of the Oath Keepers, after a report said they have ties to the group whose leader is accused of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism this week published a report that probed an Oath Keepers membership list obtained by a nonprofit journalist collective, Distributed Denial of Secrets, in a data leak. The Oath Keepers membership list has more than 38,000 names, including hundreds of elected officials, law enforcement officers and military personnel.
Among the names is Elmore County Sheriff Mike Hollinshead, the Associated Press reported. Hollinshead denied ever having participated with the Oath Keepers.
The Republican said that in 2016, while campaigning for sheriff, he “put … information” on the Oath Keepers website “and gained access,” after “hearing rumors of an anti-government group that was making in-roads into Elmore County.”
“Before I took on the position of the highest law enforcement officer in my county, I wanted to ensure that I was aware of, and planning for any potential for violence or incursion upon the constitutional rights of my fellow citizens,” Hollinshead said in a news release provided to the Idaho Statesman.
Rep. Chad Christensen, R-Iona, is a U.S. Army veteran, former parole officer and a welfare fraud investigator who is serving his second term in the Idaho House. The Republican lists Oath Keepers among his memberships within an online legislative profile.
Christensen appears in the database as having a “Liberty Tree” $10-a-month membership, according to the report, which lets members purchase Oath Keepers merchandise at discounted prices.
But Christensen told the Statesman he is no longer involved with the group.
“I joined them because members took an oath to protect the Constitution when they were in law enforcement or the military,” Christensen said in a text message. “We promised to defend the Constitution, even if we were no longer in law enforcement or the military. We were all like-minded former service members.”
More than 500 Idahoans are on the membership list, including two elected officials, two law enforcement officers and two members of the military. However, the report notes that one’s inclusion in the database “is not proof that they were or are still an Oath Keeper.”
Who are the Oath Keepers?
The Anti-Defamation League described the Oath Keepers as an “anti-government extremist group associated with the militia movement.”
At least 26 people associated with the Oath Keepers have been arrested in connection with last year’s insurrection. On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., as Congress attempted to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.
The Oath Keepers garnered national attention in 2014 and 2015 for participating in disputes between ranchers and miners and federal officials, including the armed standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in Nevada amid a dispute over grazing fees, the report said.
The Oath Keepers “places a focus on seeking institutional power” by recruiting current and former law enforcement, military and emergency services personnel, the Anti-Defamation League’s report said.
“Though there is no evidence that the Oath Keepers pursued any plans to ‘infiltrate’ these institutions, the fact that they succeeded in recruiting numerous individuals within these domains to join or support their organization means their extremist ideology has a foothold in mainstream seats of power,” the report said.
