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Key Oath Keepers leader revealed as former Las Vegas police detective [View all]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/06/oath-keepers-rightwing-militia-policeDetails about Utah-based Robert Kinch, who backed ‘race war’, suggest rightwing militia has retained links with police
The man in control of the Utah-based rightwing militia Oath Keepers USA, a recent spinoff of the national organization first established by Stewart Rhodes in 2009, is a former Las Vegas metropolitan police department (LVMPD) homicide detective who left the force in acrimony after advocating “race war”.
The revelations about Robert “Bobby” Kinch, now of Duck Creek, Utah, come from public records, online materials and the work of a longtime infiltrator of the patriot movement in the Pacific north-west, who provided vital evidence to the Guardian captured inside Kinch’s home.
The findings show that four years on from January 6, the Oath Keepers, who played a central role in fomenting that day’s insurrection in Washington, have not disappeared but have continued quietly adding law-enforcement officers to their ranks.
The return of Donald Trump to the presidency may encourage the likes of Kinch to bring their movement back into the spotlight, as the incoming administration promises to carry out unprecedented mass deportation of immigrants and to take on Trump’s perceived opponents, whom he has described as “the enemy within”.
Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said: “These disclosures show once again how police departments aren’t taking the threat of extremists in the ranks seriously.”
The revelations about Robert “Bobby” Kinch, now of Duck Creek, Utah, come from public records, online materials and the work of a longtime infiltrator of the patriot movement in the Pacific north-west, who provided vital evidence to the Guardian captured inside Kinch’s home.
The findings show that four years on from January 6, the Oath Keepers, who played a central role in fomenting that day’s insurrection in Washington, have not disappeared but have continued quietly adding law-enforcement officers to their ranks.
The return of Donald Trump to the presidency may encourage the likes of Kinch to bring their movement back into the spotlight, as the incoming administration promises to carry out unprecedented mass deportation of immigrants and to take on Trump’s perceived opponents, whom he has described as “the enemy within”.
Heidi Beirich, chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), said: “These disclosures show once again how police departments aren’t taking the threat of extremists in the ranks seriously.”
ProPublica's article on the infiltrator (I believe): https://www.propublica.org/article/ap3-oath-keepers-militia-mole
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