Ex-Oath Keeper Reveals Jan 6th Was ‘Going to Be an Armed Revolution’ and Possible ‘New Civil War’
A former spokesperson for the far-right Oath Keepers testified before the congressional subcommittee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot on Tuesday that January 6 was going to be “an armed revolution” and could have become a “new civil war.”
According to Jason Van Tatenhove, who said he broke with the group after hearing core members deny that the Holocaust was real, currently jailed Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes wanted to be a “paramilitary leader” and saw opportunity in January 6 and then-President Donald Trump.
Asked by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) about Rhodes pushing for Trump to enact the Insurrection Act to call on militias to stop the supposed “stealing” of the election,” Van Tatenhove said Rhodes saw such a move as something that could give him a “sense of legitimacy.”
He then told the committee they needed to stop “mincing words.”
“I think we need to quit mincing words and just talk about truths and what it was going to be was an armed revolution. I mean, people died that day. Law enforcement officers died this day. There was a gallows set up in front of the Capitol. This could have been the spark that started a new civil war, and no one would have won there. That would have been good for no one.”
Van Tatenhove misspoke when he said law enforcement officers died “that day,” though multiple officers died in the days and months following the Capitol riot.
Van Tatenhove further testified that Rhodes would often not refer to the Oath Keepers as a militia, referring to them at different points as a “community preparedness team,” an “educational outreach group,” and a “veteran support group.”
Van Tatenhove, however, referred to the man as a “militia leader” in another call to stop mincing words about the group and the events of January 6.
“We gotta stop with this dishonesty and the mincing of words and just call things for what they are. He’s a militia leader. He had these grand visions of being a paramilitary leader, and the Insurrection Act would have given him a path forward with that.”
Watch above via Fox News.
