Ex-Oath Keeper terrified FBI is tailing him after calling for protesters to invade DC 'armed in large groups'
On Thursday, The Daily Beast profiled Sam Andrews, a former member of the right-wing paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, who called for the Capitol protesters to arm themselves ahead of the insurrection — and now is trying to distance himself out of fear that the FBI could come after him.
"Andrews was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, but says he did not enter the building," reported Kelly Weill. "Following Donald Trump's election loss, Andrews appeared in a widely shared video that called on the right to converge on D.C. 'armed, in large groups," as The Washington Post previously reported. Those groups, he said, should show up 'en masse in D.C., armed, demanding, not asking, that we get a peaceful resolution on these voter corruption issues.'"
Now, fearing retribution from federal agents, he is walking back all of this.
"Now separate from the Oath Keepers, Andrews has focused his efforts on a Lebanon, Missouri, shooting range, where he said he often trains law enforcement," said the report. "Shortly after speaking to The Daily Beast, Andrews suggested on Facebook that journalists were calling him on the FBI's orders to somehow make him implicate himself in a crime."
The assault on the Capitol, which left five people dead, has shocked the nation and left experts fearful that it could have been much worse. Already, dozens of people have been arrested in connection with the incident by state and federal authorities, and face a wide range of charges.