In a prominent trial on Thursday, a lawyer for Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said that former President Donald Trump was to blame for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Opening Statement
In his opening statement to the jury in federal district court in Washington, DC, Tarrio’s attorney Sabino Jauregui stated that “Trump informed these folks that the election was stolen and Trump encouraged them to get there on January 6.” And it was Trump who incited this crowd to attack the Capitol in his address on January 6.
Tarrio has been charged by the Justice Department with seditious conspiracy on the grounds that, under his direction, Proud Boys members stormed the Capitol on January 6 in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory for the 2020 presidential election. Along with Tarrio, four other Proud Boys members—Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola—who have all entered not-guilty pleas—are facing trial.
Trump held a rally on January 6 in the morning. He has denied any involvement in the disturbance. The now-dissolved House select committee looking into the incident has stated that the ex-remark president’s that the throng of thousands of his supporters should “fight like hell” is proof that he incited an uprising.
On Thursday, Tarrio’s attorney brought up the quotation in court, claiming that Trump was “the one who encouraged them march up to the Capitol and fight like hell.”
Jauregui informed the jury that “Enrique didn’t say it.” Enrique is the head of the Proud Boys, despite the fact that he was silent to anybody on the Capitol grounds on January 6.
Jauregui asserted that despite not being there when the violence broke out on January 6, Tarrio had been used as a “scapegoat” for it. Two days prior, Tarrio had been detained for burning a “Black Lives Matter” flag at a revered Washington, DC, church in an unrelated incident.
‘Unite, Obstruct Peaceful Transition’
However, Tarrio, who had served as the Proud Boys’ longtime leader, gave the organization the order to unite and obstruct the peaceful transition of power from Trump to Biden on January 6, according to federal prosecutors’ opening comments on Thursday. The DOJ said that Tarrio shared both public and private texts that they claimed he sent in the days leading up to and on January 6 in an effort to block Congress’ certification of the election results.
One text message from Tarrio delivered at 2:40 p.m. said, “Make no mistake… when rioters entered the Capitol, as stated by the prosecution. The second line stated, “We did this.”
In response to the DOJ’s accusations against his client, Jauregui alleged that the government had cherry-picked material.
Enrique Tarrio has never advocated forcibly storming the Capitol, according to Jauregui. “It won’t take place.”
Jauregui also defended the Proud Boys, a 2016-founded group that identifies as “Western-chauvinist,” in his opening remarks. The Proud Boys have sided with Trump, who told them to “stand back and stand by” during a 2020 presidential debate when they were asked to denounce white supremacists and militia organizations. The Proud Boys have been branded as an extreme and hate group by watchdog organizations.
Jauregui asserted that The Proud Boys are just “a drinking club” and denied that they are any of the aforementioned groups.
“Chauvinist simply means that they think their side is the greatest,” he continued. The Proud Boys consider America to be the finest country.
The trial is anticipated to go on for almost a month. The Oath Keepers founder, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, and a group member, Kelly Meggs, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in another well-known January 6 trial last autumn.
Found Guilty
Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the founder of Oath Keepers, was found guilty on Tuesday by a jury of participating in a seditious conspiracy to obstruct the peaceful transition of power from then-President Donald Trump to current-President Joe Biden, giving the Justice Department a victory in a case involving the most important accusations related to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, another Oath Keeper, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell, three additional members of the far-right organization, were not found guilty of conspiring with them by the jury.
Each of the five defendants was found guilty of a different offense, including obstruction of an official procedure, a felony that has resulted in some of the harshest punishments in January 6 convictions.
