Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes calls Kash Patel “a traitor” who has “become part of the cover-up and part of the deep state”
Rhodes: Patel is a “good little bitch for the deep state” who has “either been compromised or bought off, but he's joined the bad guys”
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From a video uploaded to Viva Frei's Rumble channel on January 15, 2026
DAVID FREIHEIT (HOST): But what's your opinion, what's your assessment, what is your bafflement, if that's a word, as to what the hell is going on with the FBI?
STEWART RHODES (OATH KEEPERS LEADER): I think Kash Patel is a traitor. That's what I think. I think he's either been compromised or bought off, but he's joined the bad guys. He joined the bad team. He is like — For example, when it came out that 274 FBI agents were, in fact, in the crowd, you know, counter to all the lies that were told to Congress all these years, what did Kash Patel say about that? First of all, it didn't come from Kash Patel. That's where it should have come from. Patel and [Dan] Bongino should have held a press conference announcing that, but, no, it came from Congress.
So Congress finally disclosed that this is true. There were 274 FBI agents in the crowd, and President Trump's initial response was, “There's no way they were there to do legitimate law enforcement. They were there to be part of the fedsurrection.” And he's correct. But Kash Patel said, “Oh, they were improperly used as crowd control that day.” That's what Kash Patel said to spin and cover for the deep state. So I think he's gone beyond incompetence, beyond doing nothing. He's become — he's actually become part of the cover-up and part of the deep state.
FREIHEIT: And everybody has to appreciate this as well because for the longest time, we were saying, you know, there were agitators, agent provocateur, agents, CHSs, whatever assets in the crowd. It was denied. It was called a conspiracy theory. Then it gets disclosed, but not by Kash Patel. And so it's the continual moving goalpost. It's not happening. Oh, it's happening. Let's reposition and pivot and spin. They were there for crowd control. Can you explain to anybody on Earth why they would be so —
RHODES: [unintelligible]
FREIHEIT: Go for it.
RHODES: I'll tell you this. Steve Baker's response immediately was like, “Hey, I have seen all the video, and this is complete bullshit.” He said, “There's no way, I didn't see any indication of FBI being used for crowd control that day.” He called it bullshit.
FREIHEIT: Well, and also, could you explain also the inherent risks of having plainclothed people purporting to be FBI to crowd control or enforce the law in that type of circumstance?
RHODES: It doesn't happen. It's a complete, it's a complete nothing burger. There's no such thing as the FBI doing crowd control like that undercover. It's ridiculous. So no, they were there as agitators and provocateurs. That's what they were doing. And they got caught. And so now that they've been caught, Kash Patel, the good little bitch for the deep state, covers for them by explaining it away.