A prosecutor says Proud Boys leaders charged with plotting to use violence to keep Donald Trump in power saw the far-right extremist group as the former president's “army.”
Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., Sept. 26, 2020. A federal jury is set to hear closing arguments in the historic trial of Proud Boys extremist group leaders charged with plotting to use force to keep former President Donald Trump in power.
The prosecution’s words underscore how the Justice Department has worked throughout the trial to link the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, to the rhetoric and actions of the former president. Prosecutors have repeatedly shown jurors a video clip of Trump telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first presidential debate with Joe Biden.
Nicholas Smith, attorney for former Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean, said prosecutors built their case on “misdirection and innuendo.” Smith accused prosecutors of repeatedly playing the clip of Trump from the debate to try to manipulate jurors.Seditious conspiracy, a Civil War-era charge that is rare and can be difficult to prove, carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The Proud Boys also face other serious charges.
The messages show Proud Boys celebrating when Trump, a Republican, told the group to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate with Biden, a Democrat. After the 2020 election, they raged online for weeks about baseless claims of a stolen election and what would happen when Biden took office. Tarrio, a Miami resident, Nordean and Rehl are on trial with Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of a Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola was a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.
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