Proud Boys: Taking the blame for Trump?
This is “a landmark victory for democracy and the rule of law,” said Jacob Glick and Jon Lewis in CNN.com. Last week, four members of the far-right Proud Boys, including former leader Enrique Tarrio, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a federal district court in Washington, D.C., for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. It was the last of three sedition cases against key figures in the Capitol siege and followed seditious conspiracy convictions against members of the Oath Keepers, another far-right organization. Federal prosecutors have now convicted almost 500 people connected to Jan. 6. The defendants tried to discredit themselves by arguing they’re merely a “fraternity” or a “drinking club” whose talk of violent insurrection was mere “locker room” talk. But prosecutors showed that the Proud Boys are a “neo-fascist paramilitary group” that had had a call-and-response relationship with President Trump, and had decided on a violent assault on the Capitol when he urged supporters to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.
These convictions also show that “the generals bear far more responsibility than the foot soldiers,” said Amanda Marcotte in Salon. This jury “threw the book at the Proud Boys’ leaders,” while showing “a more merciful attitude toward those who were just following along.” Tarrio wasn’t even in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, but jurors still found him guilty of conspiring from afar. Tarrio’s lawyer argued that he was the “scapegoat” for the true ringleader, Donald Trump, who “told these people the election was stolen.” Now it’s time for the Justice Department to indict “those who masterminded the insurrection, not just those who broke windows and chased members of Congress.”
Still, “the verdict is another huge win for the Department of Justice,” said Kim Wehle in The Bulwark. Successful prosecutions for seditious conspiracy are exceedingly rare. We’ve now “established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Capitol siege was a planned assault on our democracy,” said Dennis Aftergut in MSNBC .com. The Proud Boys have been held accountable, so it’s time to “complete the task by bringing accountability to the very top.” Special counsel Jack Smith and Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis are still investigating Jan. 6 and Trump’s attempts to interfere with the 2020 election. “History has been made,” but “there is more to come.”