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🚨 Internal Secret Service emails reveal close communication with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes 🚨John, we just obtained some bombshell internal emails showing that Secret Service agents were in close communication with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes.
In September 2020, a Secret Service agent sent an email to others within the agency, informing them that he had just spoken to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes about an upcoming visit by then-President Trump to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The agent, who referred to himself as “the unofficial liaison to the Oath Keepers (inching towards official),” described the 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.”
That the Secret Service had ongoing contact with the Oath Keepers–while not acknowledging red flags about the group raises some serious concerns.
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The emails obtained by CREW as part of an ongoing public records request offer only a snapshot of the communication between the Oath Keepers and the Secret Service.
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Another Secret Service agent spoke to Rhodes and informed the other agents that the Oath Keepers were, “NOT there to demonstrate or push a political agenda.”
In October 2022, a former member of the Oath Keepers testified that Rhodes had spoken to the Secret Service to coordinate around the rally, but an agency spokesman told CNN that, “The US Secret Service doesn’t have enough information to say whether or not this call actually took place.”
These emails show that it did.
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Rhodes is now best known for his role in organizing the turnout of insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, just a few months after he was in contact with the Secret Service.
Information dating back years before 2020 should have made clear to the Secret Service the threat posed by Oath Keepers. But as Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig said of our report on MSNBC on Wednesday, the Secret Service was “naive” about the risk posed by these groups, which they assumed were friendly to law enforcement.
We all saw the consequences of that type of naivety play out during the insurrection.
Make a donation to CREW today to help us continue to unveil connections between right wing extremists and the Secret Service, and help power our work to hold insurrectionists accountable→ [[link removed]]Thank you,
CitizensforEthics.org
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