The names of 514 Minnesotans appear in a leaked membership roster of the Oath Keepers, a violent extremist group thought to play a key role in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to a new report released by the Anti-Defamation League.
Among those names: Six law enforcement officers, three members of the military, and two first responders, a reflection of the group’s efforts to recruit people with military and law enforcement experience.
Also on the Oath Keepers’ membership list: Rep. Donald W. Raleigh, a first-term Republican House representative from Blaine. But Raleigh said in an interview that he disavows the group and its beliefs, and that he only signed up for a membership years ago as part of a project to conduct market research on organizations targeting veterans.
In 2013, during the process of co-founding a company called TrustVets, which works to connect veterans with business opportunities, Raleigh signed up using his business email address to a number of different veterans’ groups. He provided the Reformer with emails showing membership confirmations in 2013 and 2014 for VetFriends.com, the Association of the United States Army and the Air Force Association.
As part of that effort, he said, he also signed up for an Oath Keepers membership.
“Their pitch at the time was for veterans,” Raleigh said. “One...
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