Proud Boys leader admits plan to storm Capitol and will testify
A North Carolina man who was one of the leaders of the far-right Proud Boys as they assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty Friday to two felony counts with a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison but agreed to cooperate against his co-defendants in hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
Court records filed Friday show he has already provided numerous insights into the group’s plans and their intention to disrupt the congressional electoral vote confirmation.
Prosecutors have now secured convictions and the cooperation of defendants in probes into two right-wing groups accused of planning violence on Jan. 6, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. In addition to Friday’s plea by Proud Boys member Charles Donohoe and an earlier plea by one other member, an Alabama member of the Oath Keepers pleaded guilty last month to seditious conspiracy, admitting to taking part in a plan developed by group founder Stewart Rhodes to oppose by force President Joe Biden’s inauguration, including taking partin the Capitol breach.
Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, N.C., admitted to conspiring to help organize an attack on Congress by angry supporters of then-President Donald Trump and to assaulting law enforcement officers. Donohoe is the first among six of the charged Proud Boys leaders, including longtime chairman Enrique Tarrio, to admit to both organizing an attack on Congress and assaulting law enforcement officers.
Donohoe has been jailed since March of last year. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting police officers.
In December 2020, according to court documents filed Friday, Mr. Tarrio appointed Donohue as one of the members of the “Ministry of Self Defense,” a leadership group within the Proud Boys making preparations for Jan. 6.
Prosecutors said that “Donohoe understood that the purpose of the rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, was to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote.”
As early as Jan. 4, prosecutors said, “Donohoe was aware that members of MOSD leadership were discussing the possibility of storming the Capitol. Donohoe believed that storming the Capitol would achieve the group’s goal of stopping the government from carrying out the transfer of presidential power. Donohoe understood that storming the Capitol would be illegal.”
Donohoe hadn’t planned to be in D.C. on Jan. 6, the statement of offense says. But after Mr. Tarrio was arrested on Jan. 4, 2021, for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a D.C. church, Donohoe decided to travel to Washington because he “believed that Mr. Tarrio’s arrest could create a leadership void for the MOSD.”
On the morning of Jan. 6, the Proud Boys marched away from the Ellipse before Mr. Trump began his speech and did not return. Instead, they went to the Capitol shortly after 10 a.m., the statement of offense says, and Donohoe posted that his group numbered “200-300 PBs.”
By 1 p.m., the Proud Boys were being instructed in messages to “Push inside!” Donohoe reposted the message to other group leaders. Donohoe admitted throwing two water bottles at police trying to prevent the mob’s advance.
Donohoe then found another Proud Boy who “initiated an altercation at the front of the crowd,” the statement says. “Donohoe pushed forward to advance up the concrete stairs toward the Capitol. The crowd overwhelmed law enforcement who were attempting to stop their advance.” About 140 police officers were injured during the onslaught, and five people died in the attack or immediate aftermath.