Category Archives: Proud Boys

JEFFERSON COUNTY, W.Va. (DC News Now) Tricia Jackson, a Jefferson County Commissioner, is under fire after a photo surfaced on social media, showing her posing with two Proud Boys.

The Facebook post shows Jackson in a photo with two proud boys who are holding up a white power sign.

Residents in Jefferson County say hate doesnt belong in their community.

These are people who attacked our capital. They attacked our democracy, the very core of what makes us Americans. She should resign, said Ronda Lehman.

The Jefferson County Chapter of the NAACP is calling for her resignation.

She represents the entire county. She has a great responsibility and messing around with one organization is detrimental to our community, said George Rutherford, president of the Jefferson County chapter of the NAACP.

Jackson declined our request for an interview, but in a statement, she says: I have no intention of resigning over what is an innocent photo that was taken at a local establishment at the request of two gentlemen. This is nothing more than a smear campaign by the left and some of the volunteer fire departments to stop the county from restructuring and improving ems service.

Some residents arent buying that saying Jackson is offering that up merely as a distraction.

Not only is she hanging out with insurrectionists, shes hanging out with insurrectionists clearly flashing a white member symbol of pride. That doesnt belong here, doesnt belong in our community.

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NAACP calls for Jefferson County Commissioner Jacksons resignation after posing with Proud Boys - WDVM 25

About two years before D.C. Police Lt. Shane Lamond was suspended, in February 2022, for accusations of improper communication with the right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys, he was accused of time theft, according to information provided to City Paper and confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Director Carolyn Montagna, Lamonds direct supervisor, was also accused of approving overtime for him, according to information from multiple sources familiar with the allegations, who provided details on the condition that they not be named. These sources also allege that Montagna and Lamond were in a romantic relationship at the time.

Internal Affairs Division Sergeant David Chumbley investigated some, but not all, of these allegations and left several key questions unanswered, according to the sources information. Chumbley, one of the officers involved in a separate complaint around a t-shirt with racist implications, requested that his superiors cancel the inquiry. It is unclear from the information provided to City Paper whether Chumbleys supervisors agreed with his recommendation and what, if any, further investigation occurred.

MPD spokesperson Dustin Sternbeck confirms that MPD opened an investigation and says it is now closed. Sternbeck would not provide any further details. Chief Robert Contee did not respond to an email that requested an interview and contained a list of the details City Paper intended to publish. The department generally does not provide the public with details of personnel matters, which can be embarrassing for individual officers and for the department. Neither Lamond nor Montagna responded to City Papers emails seeking comment.

Contees silence stands in stark contrast to the special access to investigatory details MPD recently gave to the Washington Post. In May, the Post published a detailed account of MPDs search for the person who fired more than 200 rounds at Edmund Burke School and the surrounding area. Post reporter Peter Hermann was granted early and exclusive access to MPDs investigation, according to the article, a move that angered members of the local press corps.

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In June of 2020, four MPD employees noticed an irregularity in the departments timekeeping database with Lamonds overtime. They reported to the internal affairs division that Montagna and Lamond were stealing time, according to the sources information. Montagna is Lamonds supervisor and the civilian director of MPDs Joint Strategic and Tactical Analysis Command Center, a hub of information responsible for providing crime alerts to MPDs command staff and to the public. The center also gathers and analyzes information, including from social media, to assist MPD investigators and coordinates with federal agencies.

The four MPD employees alleged that Montagna entered 99 hours of overtime for Lamondan excessive amount compared to others in his unit, the four employees told MPDs internal affairs division. The four employees also alleged that Lamond and Montagna consistently left work for long periods of time while on duty and that their relationship was common knowledge among command center staffers, according to information from City Papers sources.

The complainants told an internal affairs agent they suspected Montagna had abused her authority by entering Lamonds overtime given their alleged relationship.

Screenshots of MPDs internal timekeeping database, which another source shared with City Paper, indicate that for the pay period ending June 6, 2020, Lamond was paid for 80 hours of regular work, 99.99 hours of overtime, and eight hours of CT or comp time. The screenshots show one other employee with 99.99 hours of overtime, but most others range from 20 to 45 hours.

The timekeeping database tracks which employees enter or alter overtime, and the screenshots provided to City Paper indicate that over the course of five days, from June 3 to 7, Montagna modified Lamonds timesheet 14 times.

About a month after the internal affairs division received the complaints, Chumbley requested the investigation be canceled and that no further action be taken, according to the sources.

In his request, Chumbley described the investigative work he did to arrive at his conclusion. According to sources, Chumbley only interviewed two of the four complainants, who were unable to provide direct evidence to support their allegations of time fraud other than the outsized overtime.

Chumbley then reviewed Lamonds overtime hours and noted that for the pay period in question, Lamond was paid for 87.9 hours of overtime related to the George Floyd protests, 26.6 hours of overtime for callback for intelligence cases, and 11.3 hours of overtime for COVID-19 screening, according to information provided by City Papers source.

Chumbley noted that Lamonds 125.8 overtime hours was consistent with other members of the department who were integral in the response to the George Floyd protests and he found nothing suspicious or irregular, according to the source. He also noted that it is within MPD policy for supervisors to enter subordinates time and attendance.

But nowhere in Chumbleys request to cancel the investigation does he say that he looked into the allegations that Montagna and Lamond are in a romantic relationship or that they regularly disappeared for extended periods of time while on duty, according to the source.

There is also no indication that Chumbley interviewed Lamond or Montagna.

Multiple sources familiar with MPDs internal investigations say that the request to cancel an investigation is unusual, especially without speaking to the accused or interviewing all complainants. Its unclear what steps MPD took after Chumbley passed the case to the assistant chief, whether there was further investigation, or how the case was resolved. MPD will not provide those details. Chumbley did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Lamond is still suspended while hes under investigation by MPD, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly communicating with former Proud Boys leader Henry Enrique Tarrio. The Post quoted Tarrio saying he communicated with Lamond when the Proud Boys planned to be in D.C. Tarrio told the Post that his contact with Lamond was professional and that Lamond would tell him where counterprotesters were located in order to avoid conflict. But, the Post noted, a night of violent confrontations involving the extremist group in 2020 calls that into question.

Link:

Shane Lamond, MPD Lieutenant Under Investigation For Ties to Proud Boys, Accused of Time Theft Two Years Ago - Washington City Paper

Sedition is extraordinarily difficult to prove.

It's been nearly three decades since federal prosecutors havegotten a conviction on the charge. So, now that the Department of Justice has charged individuals in two far-right organizations with seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, it sends a serious message.

To provesedition, prosecutors need to show that the defendants intended to overthrow the government by force. In January, the DOJ charged 11 leaders of the Oath Keepers with doing that, and on June 6 DOJ filed the same charge against five leaders of the Proud Boys.

Since the attack on the Capitol,more than 850 participants in the events of that day have been arrested. But as the months passed following the riot, some Americans grew restless that Attorney General Merrick Garland didn't appear to be going after any big fish connected to the event.

In early January this year, Garland responded by saying the pace of the investigation was by design. The first step, he said, was laying a broad foundation by investigating "overt actors" who can provide leads to other "less overt" ones.

It sounded like more serious charges would be coming soon, and that is exactly what happened. On Jan. 13, DOJ unsealed theindictmentof Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers militia, and 10 of his deputies for their roles in orchestrating the Capitol assault. The indictment charged them with seditious conspiracy, the first time prosecutors had leveled such a charge in 10 years.

Then, on June 6, DOJ showed that it was not done. A federal grand jury returned anindictmentcharging five leaders of the Proud Boys with seditious conspiracy. DOJ said in a statement that the five Proud Boys had "conspired to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the Electoral College vote, and to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States."

Federal law says that sedition charges may be warranted when two or more people:

Sedition is a serious charge carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. But the task facing prosecutors who hope to gain a conviction is a tough one.

The biggest obstacle is proving that the defendants actually conspired to use force. It is not enough for prosecutors to show that someone advocated the use of force, which is protected by the First Amendment.

The last time the government sought a sedition conviction was 10 years ago when it went after a Christian nationalist militia called Hutaree, whose nine members talked about killing police officers. A judgethrew out the sedition chargesand other serious charges and acquitted seven of the nine defendants. The remaining two defendants pled guilty to standard federal weapons charges and were sentenced to two years of court supervision.

The judge wrote that while the government did prove that the Hutaree had strong anti-government views, it left the court to "guess what defendants intended to do with their animosity."

The goals of the defendants facing sedition charges for their roles in the storming of the Capitol, however, appear far more real.

In its indictment against the Oath Keepers, DOJ says that the defendants:

The June 6 Proud Boys indictment states that the defendants:

On June 9, a Congressional investigation into the events of the Capitol attack will begin. Technically, there is no connection between that investigation, which will be aired on prime-time TV, and DOJ's actions. But certainly, there will be evidence before the House committee and the viewing public that will be tuning in of the role played that day by the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.

Given the historical record, prosecutors may not succeed in putting the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys behind bars for sedition. But when the House committee concludes its investigation in the coming weeks and after the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys stand trial later this year, at least we may have a better understanding of what really happened that day.

There's a reason why prosecutors rarely charge people with sedition: It's hard to prove. Does that mean that prosecutors have strong evidence to bring that charge against two right-wing groups that orchestrated the attack on the Capitol? It might. But will it work?

Meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your rights. Visit our attorney directory to find a lawyer near you who can help.

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DOJ Targets Proud Boys, Expanding Its Sedition Probe

Stephen Colbert has caught the attention of the Proud Boys. The Late Show host was recently named in a statement from a lawyer for January 6 defendant Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boy; the attorney claimed that his client could not receive a fair trial in Washington, D.C., due to the January 6 hearings and increased and unquestionably spectacular 24/7 negative press and media coverageciting Colberts late-night program as a specific example.

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You know, ladies and gentlemen, I do a lot of jokes about these violent fascists, but to hear that even one of them noticed? I feel so seen, Colbert quipped on Wednesday night, breaking into his best misquoted Sally Field impression: You hate me, you really hate me!

Colbert then zeroed in on the Proud Boys leader, whom he described as looking like a worst-case scenario David Cross, adding that he could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in his case. (Biggs has pleaded not guilty.) Some of the folks being featured in the videos in these hearings are not happy about all the publicity, he said, referring to Biggs. By the time he gets out, this Proud Boy is going to be a proud member of the AARP.

Colbert went on to address Biggss attorneys claim that shows like The Late Show and Morning Joe continue to saturate the jury pool of media-obsessive Washington, D.C.

They want to move the trial to some place where the Proud Boys have a better reputation, Colbert said. Like 1930s Berlin.

Of course, after we got this little shout-out, the article says, Newsweek contacted Colberts representatives for comment, Colbert shared, before pretending to answer Newsweeks request for comment: While this is a very high-profile case, in our justice system, the accused is of course innocent until proven guilty. So I want everyone in the potential jury pool to hear me when I say, You are going to jail, you neo-numbnut! And if you dont like it, you can come and get me. My name is Joe Scarborough, and I love coffee! Welcome to the monkey house, brother.

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Stephen Colbert Is Thrilled to Roast the Proud Boys - Vanity Fair

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Its been hard, these last couple of weeks, to watch and rewatch the horrifying events of January 6, 2021. As the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol has conducted its televised hearings, they have played video clips of the violence over and over again. No image is more memorableand more disturbingthan that of the wooden gallows Donald Trumps supporters erected on the Capitol lawn as rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! The committee documented that those threats were real. According to an F.B.I. affidavit the panel highlighted on Thursday, a government informant said that members of the far-right militant group the Proud Boys told him they would have killed Pence if given the chance. The rioters on January 6th almost had that chance, coming within forty feet of the Vice-President as he fled to safety.

The malice of those in the crowd toward Pence, the holier-than-thou evangelical Christian who had spent the previous four years as Donald Trumps slavishly loyal sidekick, was remarkable.

If Pence caved were going to drag motherfuckers through the streets, one rioter was captured on video saying. He deserves to burn with the rest of them, another said. A man with a bullhorn agitated the crowd. Mike Pence has betrayed the United States of America, he informed the already agitated mob. Mike Pence has betrayed this President. He finished with a threat and a promise: We will never, ever forget.

The explosive ending of the Trump Presidency has always been a story about the rift between Trump and Pencetwo of the most mismatched figures ever to be thrown into a marriage of political convenience. For four years, Trump had tested and tried his sanctimonious No. 2, but Pence never broke. Not in public, not, as far as we can tell, in private, either. He was famous during the Trump years for doing and saying almost nothing that would make news. When he debated Kamala Harris during the 2020 campaign, his most memorable moment was when a fly landed on his impeccably coiffed white hair and he did not react for the full two minutes that it sat on his head.

But on January 6th, Pence finally did break with Trump, refusing to go along with the Presidents absurd, illegal, and unconstitutional plot to have his Vice-President single-handedly overturn the will of the American people and block Congresss confirmation of Joe Bidens victory. On Thursday, the House committee devoted its hearing to attempting to explain Trumps scheme to pressure Pencewhich unfolded in a series of inflammatory Presidential tweets, angry phone calls, and bizarre White House meetings that were a mix of constitutional-law seminars and live renactments of The Godfather. The committee introduced a new villain to a national television audience: John Eastman, the former law professor who concocted the absurd legal theory that Pence could unilaterally overturn the electiona concocted counterpart to what U.S. District Judge David Carter recently skewered as a coup in search of a legal theory.

If the hearing was designed to eviscerate the professional standing of Eastman, it succeeded blisteringly well. He was shown to be inconsistent, not on the level, and legally and historically shoddy in his work. Greg Jacob, Pences former counsel, testified that Eastman even acknowledged, at one point, that he knew his theory was unconstitutional and would likely be unanimously rejected by the Supreme Courtif it ever got there. The committees biggest reveal of the day was an e-mail from Eastman to Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani, asking for a Presidential pardon for himself. Ive decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works, Eastman wrote. Lawyers who dont think they did anything wrong are not in the habit of asking for pardons. When called for a deposition by the panel, Eastman cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination a hundred times, Representative Pete Aguilar of Texas revealed.

But, of course, Americans dont really care about John Eastman. Nor should they. It was President Trump who desperately seized on Eastmans absurd argument that the Vice-President determines the winner of Presidential elections. It was Trump who brought this buffoon into the White House, Trump who demanded that Pence attend repeated meetings with him, and Trump who charged ahead with the plot.

Trump did not care what Eastmans legal theories were. He just wanted him to provide one. His goal was to keep power by whatever means necessary. Once again, the January 6th panel presented compelling evidence that Trump personally orchestrated the campaigninflaming the mob when Pence did not cave in, as Trump apparently expected, after four years of caving in. In a dramatic phone call from the Oval Office on the morning of January 6th, with his family arrayed around him listening, the President berated and castigated his Vice-President. Trump called him a wimp, according to one witness. A former aide to Trumps own daughter Ivanka recalled Ivanka telling her that Trump had called Pence a pussy. When Pence rebuffed him anyway, Trump, a few hours later, tweeted his anger at Pences lack of courageeven as the mob stormed the Capitol. It felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire, one of his White House officials, Sarah Matthews, testified regarding the tweet.

Purely by coincidence, Im sure, Thursdays hearing took place on the seventh anniversary of the day when Trump kicked off his Presidential campaign with that famous escalator ride down to the lobby of Trump Tower. Soon after the hearing ended, I received a fund-raising e-mail from Trump asking, Do you remember this day 7 years ago? and promising that if I sent him money by 11:59 P.M. I would both get my name on the 2022 Trump Donor Wall and have my gift INCREASED by 600%. (How, exactly, was not clear.) The Trump grift continues.

And that, really, was the bigger point of Thursdays debates about the language of the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and the powers vested in the Vice-Presidency. Trump remains not only an e-mail-fund-raising huckster but also the subject of historical inquiry. He continues to be what the retired federal judge Michael Luttig, a conservative legal icon who advised Pence, called him at Thursdays hearing: a clear and present danger to the nation.

See more here:

What We Learned About Trump, Pence, and the January 6th Mob - The New Yorker

A once-aspiring Proud Boy from Camden County was sentenced Friday to two weeks incarceration for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Lawrence Earl Stackhouse III, 33, of Blackwood, had texted a friend the week before the insurrection asking for an application to join the group. He was wearing a Proud Boys hoodie as he followed the mob past the smashed windows of the Capitol building and through the kicked-in door of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis office.

I ruined my life with my dumb decisions, he told U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell during a court hearing in Washington. I regret getting involved in politics at all. I regret allowing it to fry my brain.

But Howell showed little sympathy and balked at Stackhouses explanation that he had no real interest in the Proud Boys and had only been wearing the organizations regalia because the colors matched his outfit.

That sounds like a bit of a made-up, after-the-fact explanation, she said. Wearing a Proud Boys logo was a choice.

The sentence Howell imposed which also included a three-year term of probation, three months house arrest, and $500 in restitution was less than half of the 45-day jail term that prosecutors had originally sought.

Stackhouse, a former sheet metal worker who lost jobs with government contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin after his arrest, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of illegally parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds last year.

He is the second of 26 New Jersey defendants to face sentencing for participating in the attack, which threatened the peaceful transition of power, injured scores of officers, caused millions in damage, and has led to more than 820 arrests.

READ MORE: More than 60 Pennsylvanians have been charged in the Capitol riot. A year later, judges are starting to weigh their punishments.

Federal prosecutors have described the Proud Boys, a militant, far-right organization, as one of the primary instigators of the violence that day. Several of the groups top leaders including the president of its Philadelphia chapter, Zachary Rehl have been charged with sedition for the pivotal role they allegedly played that day in riling up the crowd of Trump supporters.

Stackhouse maintains he never followed through on becoming a Proud Boys member, despite the interest hed expressed, and has no interest in joining now.

READ MORE: Scott Perry, Philly Proud Boys, and more: Pa. had a starring role in the first Jan. 6 committee hearing

Still, prosecutors pointed to a chain of text messages eight days before the riot between Stackhouse and a man theyve described as a Proud Boys prospect Michael Gianos, 33, of Marlton.

Stackhouse and Gianos had previously participated in protests together over New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphys pandemic shutdown orders at the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr. And as they made plans to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, Gianos wrote: Were going to be going after Antifa.

Stackhouse replied: Full force Jan. 6 is going to be awesome.

In texts with another charged rioter Rachel Myers, 33, of Port Richmond and an employee of Delilahs Gentlemens Club & Steakhouse in South Philadelphia Stackhouse offered to bring a knife when she said she looked forward to fighting with counterprotesters.

Love it! she said. Love me some PBs.

Assistant U.S. Attorney April Ayers-Perez cited those texts as evidence that Stackhouse went to Washington prepared for violence.

Surveillance footage from inside the Capitol shows that as Stackhouse, Gianos, and Myers entered the building on Jan. 6, they passed rioters brawling with officers and people smashing windows and doors.

With Stackhouse in his Proud Boys hoodie and Myers carrying a Delilahs backpack, they pushed their way inside through the Senate Wing doors and milled about the Rotunda briefly before following a man who had kicked in the door to Pelosis office, where her terrified staff cowered under desks inside.

In text messages afterward, the trio veered between reveling in their participation in the attack and fretting over whether the FBI would soon show up at their doors.

Dont regret one thing, Stackhouse texted on Jan. 7. F the government.

When photos later surfaced online of Myers on Capitol grounds with her Delilahs backpack, he reached out to allay her concerns.

It was Stackhouses coworkers who turned him in. Hed previously been reprimanded at work for expressing support for an unspecified hate group, according to an FBI affidavit filed in his case. Agents said Stackhouse had boasted to coworkers about his participation in the riot.

But as investigators interviewed him upon his arrest last year, he maintained that he and the others had been let into the building by police waving them past barricades and that he had no idea that the mob had forcefully smashed their way inside minutes before he arrived a claim later disproved by video from the scene.

He created this picture of a rosy, peaceful protest and overzealous police officers, and that couldnt be further from the truth, Ayers-Perez said in court Friday. I dont believe [he has] remorse. I dont believe [hes] accepting responsibility.

Stackhouses attorney, Ubong E. Akpan, maintained that her client had been misled. Hed traveled to Washington, she said, genuinely believing that Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election results, and that public pressure in the form of the crowds in the Capitol was part of that process.

She noted that since his arrest, hes voluntarily sat for interviews with the FBI and the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Mr. Stackhouse is not a villain, she said. Hes a young man who has a family who loves him, who cares deeply for him. Its important to know hes not a lone wolf waiting in the wings in the bushes to attack any members of Congress.

Investigators have charged Gianos and Myers separately. Both have entered not guilty pleas and are awaiting trial.

For his part, Stackhouse said hes ready to put the experience behind him.

I never fully understood what I was getting myself into, he told Howell. I went along with the flow, and it screwed me.

See the rest here:

Aspiring Camden County Proud Boy sentenced to two weeks behind bars for role in Capitol riot - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Key Points

Video Backgrounder

Background

The Proud Boys represent an unconventional strain of American right-wing extremism. While the group can be described as violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic, its members represent a range of ethnic backgrounds, and its leaders vehemently protest any allegations of racism. Their founder, Gavin McInnes, went so far as to file a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center when the SPLC designated the Proud Boys a hate group.

In McInnes own words, the Proud Boys are a pro-western fraternity, essentially a drinking club dedicated to male bonding, socializing and the celebration all things related to western culture. In reality, the Proud Boys bear many of the hallmarks of a gang, and its members have taken part in multiple acts of brutal violence and intimidation. While the Proud Boys insist that they only act in self-defense, several incidents including one in which two members of the group were convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot belie their self-professed peaceful nature. Indeed, many members have criminal records for violent behavior and the organization actively pursues violence against their perceived enemies.

During the last three years, the Proud Boys have established themselves as a dominant force withinthe alt lite. Easily recognizable, thanks to their black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts and red Make America Great Again baseball caps, members are regulars at far-right demonstrations and Trump rallies. After several years of forging alliances with members of the Republican political establishment, the Proud Boys have carved out a niche for themselves as both a right-wing fight club and a volunteer security force for the GOP. Despite their associations with mainstream politicians, Proud Boys actions and statements repeatedly land them in the company of white supremacists and right-wing extremists. Jason Kessler, the primary organizer of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, is a former Proud Boy. Several members attended the violent August 12, 2017 demonstration that ended in the death of counter-protestor Heather Heyer.

During an October 2018 brawl outside the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan, for which two Proud Boys members were convicted and sentenced to substantial prison terms, and seven others pled guilty, the Proud Boys were joined by the 211 Bootboys, an ultra-nationalist and violent skinhead gang based in New York City. In October 2019, members of the Denver chapter of the Proud Boys marched with members of Patriot Front and former members of the now-defunctneo-Nazi group Traditionalist Worker Party. These relationships show the Proud Boys to be less a pro-western drinking club and more an extreme, right-wing gang. Ideologically, members subscribe to a scattershot array of libertarian and nationalist tropes, referring to themselves as anti-communist and anti-political correctness, but in favor of free speech and free markets.

History

The Proud Boys was formed in 2016 by VICE Media co-founder, Gavin McInnes. In an op-ed in the far-right outlet Takis Magazinenotorious for its regular contributors, which included white supremacist Jared TaylorMcInnes announced the foundation of the group, describing its members as Western chauvinists who refuse to apologise [sic] for creating the modern world, and who long for the days when girls were girls and men were men. According to McInnes, the Proud Boys, whose name is taken from a song in the musical Aladdin, are a response and opposition to politically correct culture.

McInnes, whose VICE magazine built its reputation on publishing juvenile and often offensive material, had been trying to establish himself for years as a professional provocateur, making wildly racist statements and claiming it was all ironic, or tongue-in-cheek. In 2002, he said, We seem really racist and homophobic because we hang around with fags and niggers so much. It just becomes part of our vernacular.

At the same time, McInnes was becoming increasingly overt in his xenophobia and racism, telling the New York Times in 2003 that, I love being white and I think it's something to be very proud of. I don't want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life.

According to McInnes plan, the roughly 1,000 Proud Boys would be organized into chapters nationwide. Membership would be divided into ranks from one to four.

To attain level one, an initiate must publicly state: I am a proud Western chauvinist, I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.

To reach level two, the initiate must endure a beating by his comrades while reciting the names of five breakfast cereals. This is ostensibly to demonstrate adrenaline control; leaked online videos show the ritual to be far less violent than what McInnes described. Initiates are told to limit masturbation to once per month. The idea behind this ban -- that porn is making men weak and keeping them from forming real relationships with women -- is common throughout the right-wing extremist movement. In his op-ed, McInnes wrote: Though sexual intercourse is encouraged, Proud Boys have an endgame and it is to settle down and have kids. They have absolutely no respect for feminists but venerate the housewife so much, they are actually becoming quite popular with women.

To achieve the third level, an initiate must get a Proud Boys tattoo. Common variations are Proud Boy, POYB (acronym for Proud of Your Boy) and Uhuru, a Swahili word for freedom that the Proud Boys have appropriated as their battle cry.

Finally, the fourth level, which McInnes did not describe in the foundational document, is an honorary degree awarded for a material sacrifice or service by a brother. McInnes said in an interview that the fourth degree is awarded for a major fight for the cause. You get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa," but he later backpedaled, saying it obviously doesnt mean you go to someones house or even pick a fight with one at a rally. Fourth degree is a consolation prize for being thrust into a shitty situation and surviving.

In October 2018, as law enforcement sought members of the Proud Boys for their role in the fight outside the Metropolitan Republican Club, Proud Boys leadership released a clarified set of bylaws that seemed to contradict their prior, violent rhetoric. The new language reads: Any requirement that a brother commit a violent or illegal act as a condition precedent to receiving a fourth degree is, by this bylaw, abolished.

In early 2019, before Proud Boys John Kinsman and Maxwell Hare were convicted for their role in the 2018 fight, McInnes announced that he would no longer be formally involved with the Proud Boys. Leadership was assumed briefly by disgraced Texas attorney, Jason van Dyke, before he was replaced by Enrique Tarrio, a Cuban-American from Miami. Tarrio, the current chairman, is also running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

2020 was a significant year for the Proud Boys. They solidified their status as the most visible, and most active right-wing extremist group in the country. As the nation grappled with the pandemic, members of the Proud boys became a regular sight at anti-lockdown protests, using the demonstrations not only to raise their profile, but as recruitment opportunities. The group is not unique in this sense Boogaloo bois and militia members were also frequent participants at these rallies. Another key factor in the Proud Boys 2020 activity was their embrace of the #Saveourchildren campaign, alongside QAnon adherents. The new links with QAnon allowed Proud Boys access to untapped segments of the pro-Trump extremist movement.

Events held in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, allowed the Proud Boys to brand themselves as law and order counterpoint to Black Lives Matter protesters, although the Proud Boys themselves generally precipitated the most egregious acts of violence and intimidation against protesters. This dynamic produced some of the most brutal clashes between Proud Boys and their adversaries, particularly in Portland, Oregon which saw over 100 days of continuous unrest. There were violent and armed clashes on August 22, and a MAGA convoy on August 29 led to the death of Aaron Jay Danielson, a member of right-wing group Patriot Prayer, a frequent ally of the Proud Boys. On September 26, close to 500 Proud Boys gathered in a Park in Portland, demanding justice for Danielson. Apart from a few incidents, that event was largely peaceful.

Proud Boys profile was given an additional boost when President Trump, in his September 29 debate against Joe Biden, instructed the Proud Boys to stand back, and stand by. Emboldened by the attention from the President, the Proud Boys rallied for Trump twice in Washington, D.C. following his election loss. The first rally took place on November 14, and the second on December 12, which ended with four members of the Proud Boys suffering stab wounds from a brawl. During that same rally, Proud Boys members allegedly set fire to a BLM banner they stole from Asbury United Methodist Church, a historically Black church. Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, took responsibility for the incident and was later charged with destruction of property. He was arrested, carrying two extended gun magazines, on the eve of the January 6, 2021 rally that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. As a condition if his release, a judge barred Tarrio from attending the January 6 protest.

Violence

Violence has been a key component of the Proud Boys since the groups creation.

On August 22, 2020, members of the Proud Boys fought with counter-protestors in Portland, Oregon. This clash between right-wing and left-wing activists was one of manyin Portland and other American cities throughout the summer, and Proud Boys had been a fixture at most of them.

Ahead of the August 22 brawl, one prominent member of the group, Tusitala Tiny Toese, who is barred from taking part in any protest in Portland as a condition of his probation following his sentencing for assault, explained that the Proud Boys were in the streets because they werepissed off and didnt want to see this country burn.This is part of a trend of far right vigilantism where Proud Boys self-deputize in order to assist law enforcement. Armed with bear mace, clubs, paintball guns and in the case of one Proud Boys member,an actual gun, the Proud Boys engaged in multiple acts of violence against counter-protestors and members of the media. One journalist suffered a broken finger when Proud Boys memberTravis Taylor allegedly attacked him with a club.

Patriot Prayer, frequent Proud Boys collaborators, organized another protest that turned violent, on August 15, 2020. The event was attended by Proud Boys, including Alan Swinney, who would later brandish a revolverat the August 22 protest, and who came to the August 15 eventarmed with a paintball gun,which he used on counter-protestors.One person was injured after being hit with a paintball pellet, although it is unknown if Swinney was the shooter. At least two gunshots were reported during the protest; the shooter remaining unknown. One day earlier, Proud Boys clashed with counter-protestors in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

No members of the Proud Boys were arrested in the aftermath of these protests although a Multnomah County judge issued a new warrant for Tusitala Toese following his appearance at the August 22 protest.

McInnes has repeatedly advocated brutal tactics when dealing with the Proud Boys sworn enemies -- anti-fascist counter protestors, otherwise known as antifa -- and leaked chats from social messaging app Telegram reveal a clear pattern of inciting violence. In a June 2016 episode of the Gavin McInnes Show, McInnes warned his enemies, We will kill you. Thats the Proud Boys in a nutshell. We will kill you.

And yet, the groups leaders have repeatedly attempted to distance themselves from violence, both threatened and actual. In the aftermath of the 2018 brawl in Manhattan, McInnes stated in an interview with NewsmaxTV that he does not control these guys and described himself as the founder, not the leader. Similarly, Tarrio has repeatedly insisted that the Proud Boys organization is nonviolent.

Again, real world events belie the claims made by various Proud Boys leaders. Not only have there been several instances where Proud Boys have engaged in unprovoked violence, their social media conversations also demonstrate how inciting violence and responding to small slights with brutal force is key to the Proud Boys strategy. In fact, while the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights (FOAK) was formed to serve as a tactical defense arm (italics ours) of the Proud Boys, its leader, Kyle Chapman AKA Based Stickman, is a violent felon who has repeatedly encouraged violence against anti-fascist activists, and whose persona stems from his history of threatening counter-protestors with a heavy iron stick. Similarly, Proud Boys and their allies purposefully organize and act in a manner that will all but guarantee violence. In advance of the August 2019 End Domestic Terrorism rally in Portland, Oregon, organizer and outspoken Proud Boys ally, Joe Biggs, posted videos of himself holding a spiked baseball bat with the words Make America Great Again emblazoned on it, telling the camera that Were going to put this to good use. He also posed wearing t-shirts reading, Im Just Here for the Violence and Death to Antifa.

Screen shots of conversations on Telegram reveal how members of the Proud Boys consider any provocation to be a direct assault that legitimizes any use of force as acceptable retaliation. In advance of an April 2019 rally in Rhode Island, a poster wrote, If any contact is made with you, thats assault. If they take your hat, spray you with silly string, spit, push Its assault. We need to have all our guys there before we retaliate though if we can. The cops arent going to let us fight long. We need to inflict as much damage as possible in the time we have. In the same chat room, a Proud Boy member using the name Jason Cardona posed with a hatchet, writing, Group, meet Kindness. Later he posed with a large knife and wrote, If they want to meet wisdom all they have to do is ask. Poster Col. Kish wrote, Its a prior service Marines [sic] to get out and continue beating the fuck out of communists, semper Fi ooh ra.

At the rally in Rhode Island, among others, there have been instances of Proud Boys engaging in unprovoked attacks, as well as groups of Proud Boys attacking single counter-protestors.

In January 2020, Proud Boy member, Tusitala Tiny Toese, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for an attack on a man in Portland. Fellow Proud BoyDonovon Flippohad earlier pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault for the same incident.

In August, 2019, former Patriot Prayer member and current Proud Boy member, Russell Schultz, along with five others, was indicted for rioting following a fight outside the Cider Riot bar in Portland.

On January 6, 2019, self-proclaimed Proud Boy Buckey Wolfe allegedly murdered his brother with a samurai-style sword, claiming that God told me he was a lizard. The Proud Boys released a statement saying that Wolfe had never been approved as a member, but according to the Daily Beast, Buckeys Facebook profile included pictures of him with other members of the group. At the time of the murder, Buckey reportedly subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory. Prosecutors say that Buckey demonstratedsigns of mental illness.

Links to the political mainstream

On February 21, 2018, a new video appeared on the Proud Boys YouTube channel, showing Roger Stone, convicted felon and longtime advisor to President Trump, staring into the camera and reciting the Proud Boys initiation: Hi. Im Roger Stone. Im a western chauvinist, and I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world. Stone has had a long relationship with the Proud Boys, posing in countless pictures with various members, appearing in videos, receiving support from the group during his 2019 trial and even using them as private security at events. But Stone is not the only link between the Proud Boys and the political establishment.

After Gavin McInnes speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club in 2018, conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeted, Get a Proud Boys wristband to defend the men who defend you. Several Metropolitan Republican Club members defended the decision to host the Proud Boys leader, and Alan Bialeck, a Club board member, told BuzzFeed News that he believes McInnes was merely expressing his right to free speech.

In October 2019, Donald Trump, Jr. posed for a photo with Proud Boy member Luke Rohlfing. It is unclear whether Trump Jr. was aware of Rohlfings political views, but the photo is part of a long-term Proud Boys strategy: posting alongside high-level Republicans in hopes of gaining legitimacy.

Both U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and then-FloridaGov. Rick Scott have been photographed alongside Proud Boys, as have U.S. Reps Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) and Devin Nunes (CA-22).

Sen. Cruz took his support a step farther, backing a non-binding resolution that would have defined anti-fascist activists as domestic terrorists after Enrique Tarrio launched a petition in favor of the bill. Even President Trump took notice and tweeted that Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an ORGANIZATION OF TERROR.

The Proud Boys have also been embraced by a number of Fox News hosts; McInnes has appeared on Sean Hannitys Fox News program more than 24 times, and Tucker Carlson has appeared on McInnes show.

Racism:

While the Proud Boys often publicly denounce white supremacy, their activity has attracted white supremacists who share the groups opposition to progressive politics and proclivity for violence. The Proud Boys participated in the 2017 protests at the University of California-Berkeley, alongside a variety of white supremacist groups, including Rise Above Movement (R.A.M),Identity Evropa (now the American Identity Movement, or AIM) and theTraditionalist Worker Party (TWP).Similarly, members of Identity Evropa/AIM and TWP have joined Proud Boys and fellow right-wing group Patriot Prayer events in Portland. One man, wearing a patch for the Proud Boys-associated Fraternal Order of Alt Knights (FOAK), attended the October 2017 neo-Nazi White Lives Matter rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee. During the rally, he taunted the counter-protesters by destroying an antifa flag. Members of the Proud Boys also attended the violent August 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. They later circulated an image of themselves in a celebratory pose with a flag they captured from antifa. In October 2018, Proud Boys posed with members of the 211 Bootboys, an ultranationalist skinhead group, after McInnes speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City.

McInnes also has a long history with racism not confined to his repeated use of the N-word. He once called African-American actress Jada Pinkett Smith that monkey actress, and on an episode of the Gavin McInnes Show on Compound Media he said that Were the new n***ers. MAGA is the new black." McInnes declared on March 8, 2017, If you like Trump, you are a black man in 1945 trying to have water at a liberal fountain.

Misogyny:

The Proud Boys claim that they venerate the housewife, but McInnes has said that women are lazy and less ambitious than men, and that the pay gap between women and men is due to the fact a woman would rather go to [her] daughters piano recital than work. He has said that women are magical and that birth is a magical thing, and that the U.S. should have enforced monogamy because women are colostomy bags for various strangers semen when they have sex outside of marriage. He has described feminism as a cancer that makes women ugly. Joe Biggs, a frequent Proud Boys rally-planning partner, close friend of Enrique Tarrio and former InfoWars contributor, has a long history of explicit misogyny and support for rape.

Islamophobia:

Within the Proud Boys creed The West is the Best lies an implicit anti-Eastern bias common among right-wing extremists and white supremacists. McInnes has called the idea of a Muslim American president insane and compared it to electing a German president in 1942 in America. In a talk show on Fox News, he said there was a huge problem with inbreeding within the Muslim community, and alleged that they [Muslims] hate all non-Muslims. There are also close ties between the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio in particular, and virulent anti-Islam activist, Laura Loomer.

Anti-Semitism:

Although McInneshas decried racism and anti-Semitism, his past statements tell a different story.Hehas posted videos of himself giving the Nazi salute and repeatedly saying Heil Hitler. He was accused of anti-Semitism in March 2017 when he posted a video on Rebel Media called Ten Things I Hate about Jews, which was later retitled Ten Things I HateAboutIsrael.

McInnes has made a number of contradictory statements about Zionism. Prior to his spring 2017 trip to Israel, McInnes appeared in a Rebel Media video in which he asked people to crowdfund his trip to Israel so he could see what the country was like for himself; however, in that same video, he referenced both The Culture of Critique, by white supremacist Kevin MacDonald, and David Dukes book Jewish Supremacism. It was during this trip that McInnes appears to have had somewhat of an anti-Semitic awakening. On his show on March 8, 2017, McInnes muses that Jews were somehow responsible for World War II because the Treaty of Versailles, wasnt that disproportionately influenced by Jewish intellectuals? He also defended Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis, saying, Like at one point, the tour guide goes, You know, and there are people who think that this didnt happen. And I felt myself defending the super-far-right Nazis, just because I was sick of so much brainwashing. AndI felt like going, Well, they never said it didnt happen. What theyre saying is that it was much less than six million and that they starved to death and they werent gassed. Then he finishes his train of thought with some thoughts about Jews obsession with the Holocaust. God, theyre so obsessed with the Holocaust. I dont know if its healthy to dwell.

At another point McInnes said: Jews: If you dont want to get people mad, dont be annoying.

Transphobia:

In 2014, McInnes wrote a controversial article for the blog Thought Catalog titled, Transphobia is Perfectly Natural, which included the passage, Havent you seen all the totally functional, happily married, normal trannies walking around? They arent all dead, you knowTheyre non-heteronormative. In fact, the only thing more normal than castrating yourself and taking tons of hormones to grow tits is chopping them off.

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Proud Boys | ADL

The indictment also made reference to a curious meeting that Mr. Tarrio had with Mr. Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader, and others on the day before the attack in an underground parking garage near the Phoenix Park Hotel outside of Union Station.

While some attendees of the meeting have claimed it was an unplanned gathering largely meant to ensure Mr. Tarrio had legal representation as he departed Washington pursuant to the judges order, prosecutors somewhat cryptically said in their indictment that one participant referenced the Capitol.

The meeting was not the first time the government has claimed there were connections between the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. In previous court filings, prosecutors have said that around Christmas 2020, one of Mr. Rhodess lieutenants in Florida, Kelly Meggs, reached out to Mr. Tarrio and later told his militia compatriots that the Proud Boys could act as a force multiplier on Jan. 6.

Mr. Tarrio, 38, was taken into custody in his hometown, Miami, on Tuesday morning and was scheduled to appear in court there later in the day.

Prosecutors chose to add him to a pre-existing case in which four other leaders of the Proud Boys Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Charles Donohoe and Zachary Rehl had already been named. The new indictment also added a man accused of being a Proud Boys foot soldier, Dominic Pezzola, who was previously charged in a separate case.

Mr. Pezzola, a former Marine from Rochester, N.Y., was best known as being prominently featured during former President Donald J. Trumps second impeachment trial when the House managers played a video of him shattering a window at the Capitol with a stolen police riot shield. More than 20 other members of the Proud Boys have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack, and many others who took part in the assault remain at large.

As the Proud Boys moved past their December rally and began to turn their focus to Jan. 6, Mr. Tarrio and more than 60 other leaders and members organized themselves as a select group they called the Ministry of Self-Defense, according to the indictment. They arranged to travel to Washington from cities around the country and used their private Telegram chat to make various statements about attacking the Capitol, prosecutors said.

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Former Proud Boys Leader Indicted in Jan. 6 Investigation

For months, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol has been probing coordination between far-right groups, and another trove of text messages released this week by federal prosecutors shows coordination between members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

But in recent weeks, the House committee has also learned through testimony from several witnesses that while members of both groups often worked together, and did so on Jan. 6, there was animosity between the groups' leaders in the run-up to the Capitol attack.

House investigators have probed this line of inquiry in depositions, trying to learn more about the dynamics inside two key groups linked to Jan. 6, four people familiar with the probe told CBS News.

The questions the committee has asked and related answers reveal how it is deeply looking into how far-right groups were potentially riven by intense rivalry, even as they pursued similar and allegedly seditious aims during the Jan. 6 period. It is unclear if this line of inquiry will be included in the committee's public findings, if at all, as it pushes to finish its work in the coming weeks. Several people close to the committee have said members and aides felt pressure to wrap up their work in the coming weeks even as they explore various investigative paths.

But in recent weeks, Jan. 6 committee investigators have asked at least three witnesses to detail the behind-the-scenes rivalry, mistrust, and animus between Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and prominent Proud Boys member Enrique Tarrio during the run-up to the attack on the Capitol, the people said. In addition, the House panel has spent a combined 10 hours probing Rhodes and Tarrio about their roles, according to the sources, with Rhodes sitting for six hours with the committee and Tarrio for at least four hours.

Responses from several witnesses have provided information about the subtleties of how far-right groups operate, the people said. The committee is preparing to explain to the public how various feuding groups were able to put aside those differences and embark on a shared mission to boost former President Donald Trump and pressure Congress.

The investigation into the relationship between the two leaders has not altered the committee's private assessment that members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were able to work closely together on Jan. 6, inspired by Trump and his false claims of a stolen election, two of the people familiar with the depositions said.

Rhodes and Tarrio are two of the highest-profile Jan. 6 defendants facing federal prosecution, with Rhodes awaiting a trial for seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 attack. Tarrio also remains jailed pending trial on several federal charges, including conspiracy.

New York-based filmmaker Nick Quested, who said he testified for seven hours before the committee in March, confirmed to CBS News that he spoke with the committee's investigators about the relationship between Rhodes and Tarrio, which he has documented.

"There was an animus between Rhodes and Tarrio," Quested told CBS News, referring to a Jan. 5, 2021, meeting in a parking garage between the two men, which was filmed. "They were not on the same team. There was a trepidation to engage with each other, especially from Rhodes' point of view."

Three of the other people interviewed by CBS News requested anonymity since they were not authorized to discuss committee depositions.

This latest line of inquiry underscores how the Jan. 6 committee, just weeks before it plans to begin public hearings, is working to map out the relationships between far-right groups and to understand the dynamics around the Jan. 6 attack.

But rather than see the two central far-right groups associated with Jan. 6 as a monolith working seamlessly to coordinate the assault on the Capitol, the committee has learned that they were riven by intense infighting, even as they pursued similar and allegedly seditious aims during that period.

Recent testimony from several witnesses has provided some nuanced information about how far-right groups operate, with their shared conspiracies and ambitions at times gaining traction on social-media fronts, even though the individual leaders were feuding or suspicious of one another.

An attorney who has represented Proud Boys clients in other criminal cases said the group specifically seeks men only for membership. The Jan. 6 defendants allegedly affiliated with the Proud Boys have roots in larger metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia. Many of the accused Oath Keepers charged in the attack hail from small, rural communities, including southern Ohio and western Virginia.

In particular, the committee has prodded witnesses about the Jan. 5, 2021, meeting between Rhodes and Tarrio in Washington, D.C., hours before members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were accused of storming the Capitol intent on stopping the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

On the eve of the Capitol attack, Tarrio and Rhodes met for the first time, fleetingly, in the parking garage of the Hall of States building in Washington, across the street from the Senate side of the Capitol, according to two people familiar with the panel testimony of Tarrio and others.

Tarrio told the Jan. 6 committee that he was staying in a hotel near the parking garage and made the quick visit to see Rhodes. But he said under oath that he had done so unwillingly because he disdained Rhodes and considered him a rival, three people familiar with his testimony said.

"They met reluctantly, without warning. They don't like each other," said one person close to Tarrio.

At one point, during his meeting with the committee, Tarrio referred to Rhodes' group as "oath breakers," a second person said.

Tarrio also told investigators that the animus between him and Rhodes can be traced back to a falling out in 2019, following an incident in Portland, Oregon. Tarrio told the investigators that he had made arrangements with Rhodes to help transport a convoy of Proud Boys through the city, but then Proud Boys were stood up and stranded by Rhodes, the people said.

Tarrio said he grew angry and frustrated by Rhodes' handling of that incident, which left Proud Boys struggling to travel and pay for car services and other travel options, the sources added.

Beyond Quested, another person familiar with the Jan. 5, 2021 meeting between Tarrio and Rhodes said it was brief, likely less than two minutes long.

Tarrio told the House committee he was unaware Rhodes would be in the garage, where a group of associates and Trump supporters had gathered on Jan. 5. Tarrio told the committee he and Rhodes shook hands and greeted each other.

Rhodes' defense attorney says Rhodes was interviewed for six hours by the House committee in February. Attorney Phillip Lindner told CBS News much of the interview was focused on the origins and beliefs of the Oath Keepers, but also included questioning about the relationship between Rhodes and Tarrio. Lindner said Rhodes had little to say about Tarrio.

An attorney for Tarrio declined to comment.

A spokesman for the committee declined to comment.

CBS News has also confirmed that the committee is investigating whether far-right leaders felt inspired by Trump's remarks about the Proud Boys.

At a presidential debate on Sept. 29, 2020, Trump and then former vice president Joe Biden had a heated exchange on the threat of white supremacy. At one point, when asked about the Proud Boys, Trump said, "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," and then said that violence is a "left-wing problem."

Lawyers, federal prosecutors, and judges have singled out Trump's comments in an increasing number of civil and criminal cases stemming from the Capitol siege. They allege the phrase was an inspiration for the violence on Jan. 6, particularly among Proud Boys.

A CBS News review of the tens of thousands of pages of criminal court filings also revealed multiple references to the phrase in affidavits or memos used to seek criminal charges or pretrial detention against individual defendants.

The Justice Department accused Capitol riot defendant Daniel Goodwyn of Corinth, Texas, of posting "stand back and stand by" on his Twitter feed, using an avatar image of Donald Trump, on Nov. 7, 2020.

Tarrio pleaded not guilty to multiple federal felony counts earlier this month, including conspiracy to obstruct Congress' certification of the 2020 electoral votes, stemming from his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

He was arrested in Miami in March after a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted him and five other Proud Boys members who had already been charged with other crimes connected to Jan. 6. A Florida judge ordered Tarrio detained pending trial, and in April, he appeared virtually at an arraignment in U.S. District Court in Washington to enter his not guilty plea.

The Justice Department said Tarrio was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but prosecutors allege he led the advance planning of a portion of the attack and remained in contact with some of the Proud Boys while they were taking part in the assault.

Tarrio had been arrested two days before the attack on unrelated charges. He was released the next day and ordered to stay out of Washington. The new indictment alleged that he defied the order and remained in Washington for some time, directing the Proud Boys' actions during the Capitol rioting and bragging about it later on social media and in encrypted messages.

Prosecutors said Tarrio and other Proud Boys allegedly established what they called a "Ministry of Self Defense," with Tarrio at the top of the power structure.

One of Tarrio's co-defendants pleaded guilty earlier this month and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

In January, Rhodes and nine of his co-defendants pleaded not guilty to charges that they planned for and participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Appearing virtually in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the defendants each entered not-guilty pleas after listening to the counts levied against them, including seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge that has so far been brought in the Justice Department's investigation into the attack.

In all, the Justice Department has charged 11 alleged members of the Oath Keepers with seditious conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at the judge's discretion. One of the defendants in the Oath Keepers case has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation.

On Monday, Rhodes formally requested his trial be moved out of the Washington, D.C.-area.

Prosecutors allege Rhodes and his co-conspirators intended to stop the presidential transfer of power.

"They coordinated travel across the country to enter Washington, D.C., equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to answer Rhodes's call to take up arms at Rhodes's direction," according to the indictment. "Some co-conspirators also amassed firearms on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., distributed them among 'quick reaction force' teams, and planned to use the firearms in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power."

Rob Legare contributed to this report.

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Hostilities between Proud Boys and Oath Keepers emerge as a line of ...

THE former leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio was arrested and charged with conspiring to attack the Capitol.

Tarrio is the second alt-right leader to be arrested and formally charged in connection with the January 6 riots.

2

Tarrio is from Miami-Dade County, Florida and he was raised in a Cuban family in Little Havana in Miami.

He told Heavy News that he was "lured" to the Proud Boys because it was a similar atmosphere to the home where he grew up.

"My house, at like 7 oclock in the morning, theres like 20 people, in my house, talking about politics, roasting each other, just making fun of each other," he said.

A Reuters report revealed on January 27 that Tarrio has an extensive history working as an informant for federal and local law enforcement.

His undercover work reportedly led to the arrests of 13 people for various crimes related to drugs, gambling, and human smuggling.

The outlet obtained a transcript from a 2014 federal court proceeding where Tarrio's undercover work was described and confirmed the story with a former prosecutor, Vanessa Singh Johannes.

The avidDonald Trumpsupporter, however, has said that he does not "recall" working undercover.

"I don't know any of this," Tarrio, 36, told Reuters. "I don't recall any of this."

2

Tarrio is an open Donald Trump supporter and on November 21, 2018, he took over the leadership of the Proud Boys from the alt-right groups' founder Gavin McInnes.

He identifies himself as a leader of the South Florida chapter, one of six chapters in the state but each chapter has a degree of autonomy.

Tarrio has since been arrested for allegedly burning a Black Lives Matter banner.

Proud Boys member and far-right protester Alan Swinney was arrested on assault charges in 2020.

The 50-year-old allegedly attacked aBlack Lives Matterprotester with a paint gun on August 15 inOregon.

A federal grand jury has charged Enrique Tarrio with conspiracy to stage an attack on the Capitol in January 2021.

According to The New York Times, prosecutors said Tarrio told the Proud Boys to dress incognito when they showed up at the Capitol on January 6 and was involved in a Telegram group chat during the chaos.

Although Tarrio allegedly gave the orders to the other members of the Proud Boys, he was not present at the riots, having been arrested two days prior.

In a press release issued on March 8, 2022, the Department of Justice said, "Tarrio nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and that he claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack."

TheWashington Post reported in January 2021 that Tarrio was arrested by Washington, D.C. officers on a warrant charging him with burning aBlack Lives Matterbanner at a Black Church following a pro-Trump rally in December 2020.

The judge barred Tarrio from Washington, D.C. on the day of the January 6 riots and he was charged with one misdemeanor count of destruction of property in connection with the December 12 burning of a banner taken from Asbury United Methodist Church.

He has also been charged with two counts of possession of high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

A date for Tarrio's trial has not been set and his attorney has not commented on the case.

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