On Thursday, BBC News reported that new transcripts released by the House January 6 Select Committee reveal that the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, the two principal far-right paramilitary groups who helped organize attacks on the U.S. Capitol, have no love for each other — despite their common interest in overthrowing the peaceful transition of power.
The Proud Boys are a self-styled "Western Chauvinist" group infamous for instigating street brawls; the Oath Keepers are a group consisting mainly of current and retired military and police, who first drew national attention after their presence at an armed standoff with law enforcement at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada in 2014.
"Although many of former President Donald Trump's most fervent far-right supporters refused to engage with the committee, citing constitutional protections against self-incrimination, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes answered a number of questions over hours of testimony earlier this year," reported Mike Wendling. "He said his group defended peaceful protesters and aided people of many different backgrounds. During protests in Berkeley, California, in 2017, when right-wing protesters clashed with anti-fascist groups, he said he told white nationalists to 'take a hike.'"
Rhodes told investigators he saw the Proud Boys as compromised by white nationalism, the report continued: "Contrasting Oath Keepers with Proud Boys, he said members of his group were 'quiet professionals'. And he accused Proud Boys of failing to adequately vet its members. 'Look, I don't believe the Proud Boys are white nationalists,' he told investigators. 'I think they've been sloppy and let white nationalists infiltrate their group.'"
A key Proud Boys leader, for his part, thinks ill of Rhodes, said the report: "Enrique Tarrio, a Florida man of Afro-Cuban ancestry who led the Proud Boys at the time of the riot, was also subpoenaed by the committee and described an argument that he had with Rhodes. 'I didn't like Stewart Rhodes. I still don't like Stewart Rhodes,' he said during testimony."
According to the report, the two groups stems from when both were active during the 2019 civil rights demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, where, according to Rhodes, his group was "providing security" for counterdemonstrations that included the Proud Boys but withdrew from the event after reports white nationalists had infiltrated the group, enraging Tarrio.
All this comes after a jury convicted Rhodes and one of his associates, Kelly Meggs, of seditious conspiracy for their role in January 6, along with a slew of lesser charges for them and their accomplices. Another seditious conspiracy trial is underway for leaders of the Proud Boys.
