Tennessee elected officials, law enforcement on Oath Keepers membership list, report finds
At least 24 Tennesseans working in elected office, law enforcement, emergency response and the military appear on a leaked membership list for the Oath Keepers, a violent, far-right extremist group accused of playing a role in plotting the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol last year.
The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism sifted through a 38,000-name membership list to identify hundreds of people who hold positions of authority through elected office or law enforcements. The ADL identified 890 Tennesseans in total who had signed up with the group.
List in Tennessee, according to the ADL analysis, includes:
four elected officials
12 law enforcement employees
three military members
five first responders
Steve Mead, of Oak Ridge, was among the Tennessee elected officials ADL identified on the Oath Keepers' membership rolls. Mead served on the Anderson County Commission for 12 years but lost reelection this year. Mead, who calls himself a strict constitutionalist, said he became a member of the Oath Keepers when it was first formed but has not been active for many years.
"I don't really consider myself a member, but I probably have a lot in common with many of the members," he told Knox News.
He said he believes in the organization's founding ideology, that those in public office are bound by a lifelong oath to follow the law and the Constitution. Mead said some Oath Keepers have diverged from the group's original mission, but thinks the organization is being demonized.
"As citizens, we have an obligation to point out what people are doing wrong. If they are not complying with the Constitution, we need to criticize that forcefully and openly, not violently or doing anything nasty, but speaking up and being heard," Mead said.
"Right now we are in a time where a lot of people in government don't think the Constitution means anything and you can do whatever you want as long as you don't get caught."
The Tennessean and the USA Today-Tennessee network have reached out to the elected officials for comment. ADL on Wednesday declined a request for a full list of law enforcement and military members identified on the membership rolls, stating the report "is not meant to dox rank-and-file personnel."
"ADL has been in contact with each law enforcement agency affected by our report and we continue to work with them in addressing the challenges of extremism within their ranks," ADL said in an emailed statement.
A sign up doesn't necessarily indicate a person is now or was ever an active member of the Oath Keepers, founded in 2009 and largely based on far-right conspiracy theories, according to the Associated Press.
“Even for those who claimed to have left the organization when it began to employ more aggressive tactics in 2014, it is important to remember that the Oath Keepers have espoused extremism since their founding, and this fact was not enough to deter these individuals from signing up,” ADL's report states.
Related: 'Prepared to do violence': Oath Keeper leader jailed pending Capitol riot trial
Still, the ADL notes the membership rolls are not "proof that they were or are still an Oath Keeper, that they hold or held all or some Oath Keepers ideology or viewpoints, or that they ever actively participated in Oath Keepers activities."
The Oath Keepers have been under particular scrutiny in recent months, as multiple leaders face seditious conspiracy charges for allegedly plotting to block the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Related: Oath Keeper planned with Proud Boys, Three Percenters before Capitol attack, prosecutors say
A U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has argued Trump's refusal to accept the legitimate election results, as well as summoning his supporters to Washington D.C. ahead of Congress' official certification of the election, energized Oath Keepers and the extremist group Proud Boys to attempt to block the certification.
Prosecutors say a group of Oath Keepers, clad in tactical gear, in part led the mob in a coordinated effort to violently breach the Capitol.
Related: Jan. 6 hearing to focus on Trump mob. A breakdown of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and the attack.
More: Conservative Rod of Iron Ministries building global retreat center in East Tennessee
This is a developing story.
Reporter Josh Keefe contributed to this report.
Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Oath Keepers: Dozens of TN officials, law enforcement on membership list
