Proud Boys jury got it right on Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was not “legitimate political discourse,” as the Republican Party officially wants you to believe. It was a violent criminal conspiracy against our democracy — and now members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group will be punished for their role in leading the bloody assault.
Four members of the group — including its leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio — were convicted of seditious conspiracy Thursday in D.C. federal court. In previous trials, six members of another right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, were also convicted of that same charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
That means three different sets of jurors have concluded that Jan. 6 was no spontaneous riot. It was planned, organized incited, and led by individuals and groups in a conspiracy against our democratically elected government.
Let’s hope that Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in the insurrection, is paying attention.
After all, it was Trump who told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” in a 2020 presidential campaign debate with Joe Biden. It was Trump who, after his defeat, summoned disappointed supporters to gather in Washington on the day when Congress would officially certify Biden as president-elect. It was Trump who tweeted, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
It was Trump who spoke at that morning’s rally on the Ellipse, stoking anger with outrageous and disproven lies about how the election had supposedly been “stolen” from him. It was Trump who claimed, falsely, that then-vice President Mike Pence had the authority to overturn Biden’s victory. It was Trump who sent the crowd — by then, an angry mob — off toward the Capitol. And it was Trump who watched television coverage for hours, making no attempt to quell the violence, as the insurrectionists overran police lines, brutally attacked officers, smashed their way into the citadel of American democracy, and menaced members of Congress and his own loyal vice president.
We are still trying to process what happened on that shocking and unprecedented day. The wheels of U.S. justice are designed to grind slowly, and it has been frustrating to see accountability parceled out in dribs and drabs over two long years. The Proud Boys verdict ends the last remaining case involving charges of seditious conspiracy — so far. We do not know what charges, if any, Smith might bring against Trump and members of his inner circle.
Prosecutors have shown evidence that Tarrio was in contact with Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, during the post-election period when Trump was pushing his false “stop the steal” narrative. They showed that the Proud Boys defendants exchanged messages vowing to keep Trump in office “by any means necessary including force,” as a member of the Proud Boys who cooperated with prosecutors testified.
Evidence at the trial showed that three of the men convicted Thursday of seditious conspiracy — Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl — led a group of about 200 Proud Boys away from the Ellipse rally and toward the Capitol even before Trump had finished speaking, or ranting. The defendants themselves did not participate in the worst of the violence at the Capitol; Tarrio wasn’t even in Washington that day. But prosecutors argued — and jurors agreed — that Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were the leaders who sent other Proud Boys to commit some of the most violent acts of the day, systematically breaching police barricades and viciously attacking officers.
About 140 U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. police officers were injured, some to the point of disability. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was horrifically assaulted by the mob, died the following day after a series of strokes. Four other police officers who had defended the Capitol died by suicide in the weeks and months after the insurrection. One rioter — Ashli Babbitt — was shot dead as she and other rioters tried to smash their way into the House chamber. Three other rioters died during the chaotic melee.
Trump now lionizes Babbitt as some kind of heroic martyr. He complains that the Justice Department is persecuting patriotic Americans who were doing nothing more than exercising their right to peacefully protest.
That is an outrageous, disgusting lie, and it is unconscionable that so many Republicans — including members of Congress whose lives were threatened that day — let him get away with it.
Jurors are getting it right. Leaders of the insurrection should face the most serious charges and suffer the most severe punishments. Now we wait to see whether the man without whose incitement Jan. 6 never would have happened — Donald Trump — is made to face his day in court as well.
Eugene Robinson is a columnist for The Washington Post.