Report Reveals Emails Between US Secret Service and Oath Keepers’ Leader

A new report by CREW, a nonprofit that investigates policies and government officials, has revealed emails exchanged between the U.S. Secret Service and the leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, in September 2020.

The emails reveal the nature of the relationship Rhodes was keeping with the agency, which CREW highlights saying that officials involved ignored the group's white nationalist ties.

The emails show Rhodes contacted the Secret Service in order to coordinate the Oath Keepers' participation in a Trump rally that happened in Fayetteville, N.C., on September 19, 2020.

The group leader was communicating with an unidentified agent who called himself “the unofficial liaison to the Oath Keepers (inching towards official)".

This same agent described the extremist group as "primarily retired law enforcement/former military members who are very pro-LEO [law enforcement officer] and Pro Trump. Their stated purpose is to provide protection and medical attention to Trump supporters if they come under attack by leftist groups.”

An agent also clarified in an email that the group would not be at the rally to push any political agenda, but just to make sure people attending make it from their cars and back safely. Rhodes apparently asked for "where they would be allowed to 'operate'," which the agent simply referred him to open sources since he couldn't disclose specific plans of the Secret Service.

While testifying in October of 2022, John Zimmerman, a former North Carolina leader of the Oath Keepers, said the Secret Service was advising the group on which weapons could be used in their operation, according to CNN. The emails uncovered by CREW did not show any correspondence about weapons the Oath Keepers could use, just about where members of the group could be located.

Zimmerman, while not charged with any crime, was testifying due to members of the Oath Keepers being on trial, accused of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 riots.

In a different email where the Secret Service responds to a request of more information on what the Oath Keepers are, they fail to acknowledge the group's white nationalists tendencies and previous clashes with law enforcement once again, merely saying they found no records of Rhodes' social media profiles and that they claimed to be a "local community response team for natural or civil disorders." The email also notes that Rhodes has "denounced White Nationalist ideals."

CREW, the nonprofit that obtained the emails, argues that "There was plenty of other publicly available information about Rhodes and the Oath Keepers at the time that should have easily raised alarm."