The Oath Keepers gained 'hundreds' of members following the January 6 insurrection: report

The January 6 insurrection should have discouraged Americans from having anything to do with the Oath Keepers, one of the far-right groups that violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in the hope of preventing Congress from certifying now-President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over then-President Donald Trump. Instead, hundreds of people have since joined the extremist militia group, according to Guardian reporter Jason Wilson.

Wilson reports that "hacked materials from" the Oath Keepers' website "show that hundreds of people either joined or renewed their membership after many of the group's members participated in the attack on the Capitol on 6 January."

According to Wilson, "The post-Capitol attack membership surge is evident in payment records from the Oath Keepers website. They show that 801 people either joined the organization or made donations after 4 January, when founder Stewart Rhodes posted an article on the website headlined 'Oath Keepers Deploying to DC to Protect Events, Speakers, & Attendees on Jan 5-6: Time to Stand!' But almost all of that number — 788 altogether — joined or donated after Oath Keepers members participated in the incursion into the Capitol Building on 6 January, with the records showing that the surge built momentum in January before slowing in February, March and April, where the records end."

The Oath Keepers, Wilson notes, made "explicit calls for military and law enforcement volunteers."

"There were no e-mail addresses linked to military or government employers in the trove," Wilson reports, "but ten sign-ups noted their military ranks in an optional 'title' field, which ranged between corporal and colonel, including three men who offered the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Guardian's investigation of the record showed that the majority of these are retired, but some have gone on to work in other sensitive roles."