Stewart Rhodes announced last week that he is relaunching the Oath Keepers, his anti-government militia that nearly disappeared after dozens of its members, including Rhodes, were arrested for their role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Rhodes, speaking to Gateway Pundit this week, said he sees the relaunched group playing a role in countering the “insurgency by the left” on the streets of American cities. “Right now, under federal statute, President Trump can call out our militia if he finds it necessary, specifically for three purposes: preventing invasions, suppressing insurrection, and executing the laws of the Union,” Rhodes said.
But since Rhodes announced his withdrawal, experts, former members and online chatters suggest he has no interest in reviving what was once one of the largest militias in the US, with a leaked database listing 38,000 alleged members in 2021. This has not stopped Rhodes from asking potential new members and supporters to send money in support of the cause.
But even the former Oath Keepers are not interested. Janet Arroyo, who ran the Oath Keepers chapter in Chino Valley, Arizona, with her husband Jim Arroyo before the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, says she has not heard from Rhodes in six years and has no plans to rejoin the group.
“He hasn’t reached out to anyone during his captivity or since being released,” says Arroyo. “No hard feelings, but we’re doing what we do and don’t waste too much time wondering what he’s doing. That stupid D.C. stunt has scared many great patriots. My guess is he won’t pass.”
Another former Oath Keeper, Jessica Watkins, an Army veteran who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for her role in the Capitol attack, says she hadn’t even heard of the relaunch when WIRED contacted her this week. “I haven’t heard about relaunches, but I know most J6ers are trying to rebuild their lives,” Watkins says, adding that even if she wanted to rejoin, she would be unable to do so because her sentence has been commuted rather than pardoned. “Criminals are not allowed to join or work with the Oath Keepers.”
Kelly Meggs, who led the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the attack on the Capitol, says he will not join the relaunched Oath Keepers because he worries about being targeted again if Democrats return to power. “I’m more concerned about the future,” says Meggs. “I think four and five years from now, eight years from now, 12 years from now, anyone who is a member of these organizations is at risk of going through what I went through.”