“The [Trump] campaign asked us to not wear colors to these events,” Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio told one of his closest deputies in an encrypted Nov. 8, 2020, chat, according to court evidence.
Eight weeks later and days before Jan. 6, 2021, the Proud Boys chairman confided further to multiple girlfriends about members’ preparations for violence and the possibility of storming the Capitol.
WaPo
I'd say that implicates Trump's campaign in domestic violence nicely.
More than 200 encrypted Telegram chats, texts and other messages show Tarrio appeared at several points to align his plans with those of Trump’s “stop the steal” campaign organizers, while knowing by Jan. 6 that the Proud Boys and the president’s enraged supporters might explode into violence.
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“Whatever happens … make it a spectacle,” the 39-year-old Miami-born Cuban American said in a final text to another lieutenant and co-defendant as police arrested Tarrio on his arrival in D.C. on Jan. 4, government exhibits and testimony show.
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[T]he government has cast Tarrio as a singular figure who holds the key both to what the group planned that day and whether it coordinated with others.
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However, the messages also show that Tarrio and four co-defendants at times voiced doubt and ambivalence over what would actually take place and that plans remained in flux into the last 48 hours. Tarrio was not even in Washington on Jan. 6, having been arrested and barred from the city for burning a stolen Black Lives Matter flag at an earlier pro-Trump rally.
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“I will tell you with almost 100 percent certainty that if I would’ve been on the ground on January 6th, there would be absolutely zero Proud Boys that got arrested,” he said.
But in messages on Dec. 30, 2020, Tarrio’s alleged co-conspirators warned him that Proud Boys as well as Trump’s other supporters could riot in Washington. The next day, Tarrio told chapter leaders that the threat of violence that others associated with the Proud Boys increased their influence and in itself deterred their far-left enemies. He also hinted a bigger scheme could be in play.
“I want them to be fearful,” Tarrio reassured followers, before adding cryptically that deterrence might not be the true goal of the Proud Boys in raising the prospect of violence: “Sometimes we don’t have to lift a finger anymore. Because maybe that isn’t the entire plan.”
“Misinformation is a good tool,” he added.
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Tarrio and co-defendants Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola have pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment that charges them with secretly conspiring to disrupt by force the transfer of power to Joe Biden.
Defense attorneys accuse prosecutors of cherry-picking statements from tens of thousands of Proud Boys communications to paint a damning picture, ignoring evidence of disagreement and confusion in the group over any specific plan for Jan. 6. They say Tarrio and his men are scapegoats for an unplanned riot caused by Trump’s incitement and police failures.
Willing scapegoats.
[E]vidence shown at trial reveals Tarrio ties to the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, Proud Boys viewed the group’s fortunes as linked to Trump’s political fate.
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By Dec. 19, 2020, the day Trump called demonstrators to Washington for a “wild” protest on Jan. 6, Tarrio handpicked co-defendants Nordean, Biggs and Rehl to join a leadership group chat for that day’s operations, prosecutors allege. Ironically named by Tarrio the “Ministry of Self-Defense” (MOSD), Tarrio and other members agreed to do whatever it took to stop Congress from confirming the electoral vote in Washington, Proud Boys leader Jeremy Bertino testified this week. Some believed storming the Capitol would accomplish it, the star government witness said.
“I don’t know the exact plan of how it was going to get done. [But] I know what the objective was,” Bertino told jurors.
Tarrio and co-conspirators — who included his best friends and podcast co-hosts Nordean and Biggs — began calling themselves “lords of war” and “soldiers of the right wing” in social media posts, urging others to join in the “revolution.”
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Tarrio and co-conspirators debated as late as Dec. 30, 2020, whether Proud Boys members could attack police.
“We could have a f-----g riot,” Pennsylvania leader John Stewart warned in the MOSD group chat.
“Just let it happen,” Bertino counseled, “Maybe it’s the shot heard round the world and the normies will f--k up the cops.” Both Stewart and Bertino have pleaded guilty in cooperation deals with prosecutors.
On New Year’s Eve, Tarrio posted a proposed packing list of “basic gear,” including military-style body armor and trauma kits, pepper spray, decontamination wipes, programmable radios, brass knuckles, slash resistant gloves, sealed goggles, helmets and gas masks.
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“#F--ktheblue,” Bertino wrote, to which Stewart replied, “Agree, they chose their f-----g side so let’s get this done.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
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