Judge orders 2 Proud Boys leaders to be jailed for attack on Capitol

A federal judge on Monday ordered two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group to be arrested and jailed while awaiting trial on charges they planned and coordinated an attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Joseph Biggs and Ethan Nordean had been free since their March 10 indictment, but U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly concluded that the two men are dangerous and no conditions for their release could be adequate. The judge said Biggs and Nordean “facilitated political violence” even if they weren’t armed and didn’t assault anybody at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Kelly overruled another federal judge who had ordered pretrial home confinement for Nordean. Biggs was freed after his initial Jan. 20 arrest in his home state of Florida. Justice Department prosecutors initially didn’t seek to keep Biggs jailed but last month asked for his pretrial release to be revoked, saying new evidence shows he poses a “grave danger” to the community.