Hi, everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network.

This is On with Caro Swisher, and I'm Caroswisher.

We're less than two weeks into the new administration,

and things are already

feeling very, very different. In fact, it feels menacing and has a lot of momentum with Trump using

executive orders as cudgels to all kinds of groups from LGBTQ plus people to immigrants to just

about anyone who stands in his way. From the very first day, President Trump

has been quick to follow through on some of his campaign promises, as I expected him to,

including granting clemency, to all of the January 6th insurrectionists, the nonviolent and the

violent, including the ones who attacked the Capitol Police and commuted the sentences of 14

individuals charged with being seditious conspiracists.

That includes the leaders of two militia groups, the oathkeepers, and the proud boys.

Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss another 300 cases that were still

pending in court. There is obviously so much to talk about here. The militia is currently operating all over the country, their ideologies that separate or

unite them, and any potential role they might have in the new administration.

My guests today are three people who have been studying and tracking the movements of these

militia groups in their place in the current environment.

Dr. Amy Cooter is the director of research at Middlebury's

Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism. She studies domestic militias and groups

of armed individuals who see it as their civic duty to uphold the Constitution the way they

believe it should be interpreted. Tess Owen is an investigative reporter who has covered

extremism in politics and events surrounding January 6th extensively, and Paul Rosenzweig is a cybersecurity lawyer who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush and now specializes in issues relating to domestic and homeland security.

...