Charges levied after U.S. Capitol insurrection roil far-right groups
Former President Donald Trump's lies about a stolen 2020 election united right-wing supporters, conspiracy theorists and militants on Jan. 6, but the aftermath of the insurrection is roiling two of the most prominent far-right extremist groups at the U.S. Capitol that day.
More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the deadly siege. The Proud Boys' chairman called for a pause in the rallies that often have led to clashes with anti-fascist activists. And one Oath Keeper has agreed to cooperate against others charged in the riot.
Some extremism experts see parallels between the fallout from the Capitol riot and the schisms that divided far-right figures and groups after their violent clashes with counter-protesters at the "Unite the Right" white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The white supremacist "alt-right" movement fractured and ultimately faded from public view after the violence erupted that weekend.
"I think something kind of like that is happening right now in the broader far-right movement, where the cohesive tissue that brought them all together — being the 2020 election — it's kind of dissolved," said Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.
"Like 'Unite the Right,' there is a huge disaster, a P.R. disaster, and now they've got the attention of the feds. And it's even more intense now because they have the national security apparatus breathing down their necks," he added.
But others believe President Joe Biden's victory and the Jan. 6 investigation, the largest federal prosecution in history, might animate the militia movement — fueled by an anti-government anger.
"We're already seeing a lot of this rhetoric being spewed in an effort to pull in people," said Freddy Cruz, a Southern Poverty Law Center research analyst who studies anti-government groups. "It's very possible that people will become energized and try to coordinate more activity given that we have a Democratic president in office."
The insurrectionists who descended on the nation's capital briefly disrupted the certification of Biden's presidential win and sent terrified lawmakers running for their lives.
The mob marched to the Capitol and broke through police barricades and overwhelmed officers, violently shoving their way into the building to chants of "Hang Mike Pence" and "Stop the Steal." Some rioters came prepared with pepper spray, baseball bats and other weapons.
Members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers make up just a small fraction of the more than 400 people charged so far. Prosecutors have narrowed in on the two extremist groups as they try to determine how much planning went into the attack, but authorities have said they're intent on arresting anyone involved in the riot.
More than two dozen Proud Boys leaders, members or associates are among those arrested. The group of selfdescribed "Western chauvinists" emerged from far-right fringes during the Trump administration to mainstream GOP circles, with allies like longtime Trump backer Roger Stone.