Former Proud Boys leader charged with conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol attack over meeting with Oath Keeper
The former leader of the farright Proud Boys group was charged with conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and arrested Tuesday, the Justice Department said.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was not accused of participating in the deadly siege on Capitol Hill — he had been arrested two days before the riot, charged with torching a Black Lives Matter banner.
But a 30-page indictment released by the Justice Department said Tarrio did not immediately leave town as he was instructed Jan. 5, instead meeting with Elmer “Stewart” Rhodes of the far-right Oath Keepers group, and perhaps planting seeds for what was to come.
“During this encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol,” the indictment said.
The next day, he cheered on social media and in a text chat as the insurrection rocked the Capitol, according to court papers.
Tarrio made his initial court appearance via video link to a Miami courtroom Tuesday. His detention hearing was scheduled for Friday.
The indictment said that Tarrio told a Proud Boys member by text during the Capitol riot, “Make no mistake ... We did this,” and about two minutes later wrote on social media: “Proud Of My Boys and my country.”
After the siege, Tarrio claimed credit, according to the Justice Department. At the time of the riot, he was serving as the national chairman of the Proud Boys, the Justice Department said.
A lawyer for the former leader, Daniel Hull, did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the Jan. 6 case.
In an interview with CNN last year, Tarrio said he did not sympathize with lawmakers who were terrified during the attack on Congress.
“I’m not going to cry about a group of people that don’t give a crap about their constituents,” Tarrio said.
Though he said the riot at the Capitol should not have turned violent, he said he would “never regret” statements he made after Jan. 6.
The indictment said that the Proud Boys describe their group as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world, aka Western Chauvinists.”
The group was founded in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes.
The case was being probed by the FBI’s Washington and Miami field offices, according to the Justice Department.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, 775 people have been arrested across the U.S. in connection with the assault on the Capitol, the Justice Department said.