US Capitol riot: Proud Boys sedition trial opens 2 years after January 6 attack

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio at a rally in Portland, Oregon in 2019. The seditious conspiracy trial of Tarrio and four lieutenants after the US Capitol riot has begun in Washington. Photo /AP

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants charged with seditious conspiracy in the US Capitol attack “took aim at the heart of our democracy” on January 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor told jurors on Thursday (early today NZ time) as their high-profile trial opened in Washington.

Jurors began hearing attorneys’ opening statements more than two years after members of the far-right extremist group joined a pro-Donald Trump mob in attacking the Capitol.

“These men did not stand back. They did not stand by. Instead, they mobilised,” Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough told jurors, invoking the words of Trump when he infamously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a 2020 presidential debate with Joe Biden.

The trial comes on the heels of the seditious conspiracy convictions of two leaders of the Oath Keepers, another far-right extremist group. Several other Oath Keepers members were charged with plotting to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump, a Republican, to Biden, a Democrat.

The case against Tarrio and his four associates is one of the most consequential to emerge from the January 6 riot at the Capitol. The trial will provide an in-depth look at a group that has become an influential force in mainstream Republican politics.

Defence lawyers have said there was never any plan to go into the Capitol or stop Congress’ certification of the electoral vote won by Biden. And they have accused prosecutors of trying to silence potential defence witnesses. Tarrio’s lawyers have not said whether he will take the stand in his defence.

Tarrio’s co-defendants are Ethan Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, who was a Proud Boys chapter president; Joseph Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, a self-described Proud Boys organiser; Zachary Rehl, who was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia; and Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boy member from Rochester, New York.

The Justice Department has charged nearly 1000 people across the United States over the deadly January 6 insurrection, and its investigation continues to grow.

The Proud Boys’ trial is the first major trial to begin since the House committee investigating the insurrection urged the department to bring criminal charges against Trump and associates who were behind his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

While the criminal referral has no real legal standing, it adds to political pressure already on Attorney General Merrick Garland and the special counsel he appointed, Jack Smith, who’s conducting an investigation into January 6 and Trump’s actions.

Jury selection in the case took two weeks as a slew of potential jurors said they associated the Proud Boys with hate groups or white nationalism. The Capitol can be seen in the distance from parts of the courthouse, where a second group of Oath Keepers are also currently on trial for seditious conspiracy, which carries up to 20 years behind bars upon conviction.

Tensions bubbled over at times as jury selection slowed to a crawl and defence lawyers complained that too many potential jurors were biased against the Proud Boys. Defence attorneys challenged jurors who expressed support for causes such as Black Lives Matter, saying that could indicate prejudice against the Proud Boys.

Lawyers and the judge clashed during sometimes chaotic pretrial legal wrangling to the point where two defence attorneys threatened to withdraw from the case. US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, lashed out after defence lawyers repeatedly interrupted and talked over him on Wednesday, warning that he would find them in contempt if it continued.

Tarrio, who’s from Miami, wasn’t in Washington on January 6 because he was arrested two days before the riot and charged with vandalising a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. He was ordered to leave the capital, but prosecutors say he remained engaged in the extremist group’s planning for January 6.

Prosecutors are expected to tell jurors that as the Proud Boys’ anger over the election grew, they also began to turn against police over Tarrio’s arrest and over the failure to bring charges in the stabbing of another Proud Boy during clashes the month before the riot.

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier on January 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. Photo / AP

Communications cited in court papers show the Proud Boys discussing storming the Capitol in the days before the riot. On January 3, someone suggested in a group chat that the “main operating theatre” be in front of the Capitol. “I didn’t hear this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol,” Tarrio said the next day in the same chat.

Tarrio’s lieutenants were part of the first wave of rioters to push onto Capitol grounds and charge past police barricades toward the building, according to prosecutors. Pezzola used a riot shield he stole from a Capitol Police officer to break a window, allowing the first rioters to enter the building, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors say Tarrio cheered on the actions of the Proud Boys on the ground as he watched from afar. - AP