The Cuban American Enrique TarrioLeader of the far-right group proud boys which played a prominent role in the days before “Assault on the Capitol”will be in the dock this Monday along with other prominent members of the organization.
Charged with alleged conspiracy to commit sedition, obstruction of an official process and other related crimes, Tarrio, 39, is on trial investigating the plans of the organization he heads and the role they played before and during the riots that surrounded it Capitol to prevent the transfer of power donald trump a Joe Biden.
Federal authorities allege that the leader of the Miami-based white nationalist group and his colleagues set up a ministry of self-defense and exchanged hundreds of encrypted text messages about their “1776 Returns” plan to “break into the Capitol” and start the New Year welcome with a “revolution,” according to El Nuevo Herald.
The trial coincides with Monday’s meeting of the House Commission, which will debate its final report on the Jan. 6 insurgency. More than their actions, the court will analyze the Proud Boys’ words in search of “intents.” the use of “force” in a concerted effort to prevent Trump from being replaced by Biden in the White House, a key finding to convict her of sedition.
“Mr. Tarrio and his accomplices committed a crime that went to the heart of our democracy,” prosecutor Jason McCullough said during Tarrio’s arrest hearing in Miami federal court following his arrest last March, qualifying the riot as a “terrorism crime.”
Tarrio’s Miami defense attorney Nayib Hassan declined to comment on the allegations against the former Proud Boys president. “Mr. Tarrio looks forward to the trial beginning,” he told the outlet. “We look forward to presenting the evidence and clearing Mr. Tarrio of the government’s allegations.”
“Mr. Tarrio never directed anyone to enter the Capitol,” Hassan said during his client’s detention hearing last March, explaining that he was not present at the Capitol on the day of the riot.
However, prosecutors do not have to prove that the Proud Boys actually used violence that day, only that their verbal threats incited violence on Capitol Hill.
“The problem he has is that even though he may not be present on Jan. 6 if he is involved in the conspiracy, he doesn’t have to be present at all of the acts,” said Joseph DeMaria, a defense attorney who worked on the task force, said the above-mentioned organized crime outlet of the Miami Department of Justice.
For their part, legal experts say the six-week jury-selection trial that begins Monday will boil down to the Proud Boys’ words, their meaning and possible consequences.
“The defense will say they did not use force, that it was a defense and a protest,” protected by the First Amendment, said Miami defense attorney David Weinstein, former chief of the US Attorney’s Homeland Security division in South Florida . who is not involved in the Proud Boys case.
That interpretation does not appear to be shared by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who is presiding over the trial and denied two motions by the Proud Boys’ defense to dismiss the case based on First Amendment arguments on free speech, underscoring the evidence for the Charges of sedition and obstruction.
For their part, prosecutors will focus on the outcome of the Proud Boys’ threats, which they say led to the destruction of government property in the Capitol and the deaths of seven people.
Prosecutors will find that “their actions amplified the words they spoke in encrypted text messages.” In addition, they will show the jury photos and videos of the violence between rioters and law enforcement on January 6.
Although Tarrio was not at the Capitol on the day of the riot (he was staying at a Baltimore hotel), legal experts say he does not avoid being seen as one of the leaders of the conspiracy to attack the building.
“The indictment reflects his consent to join a conspiracy, particularly in December [de 2020]when he started the new chapter of the Proud Boys called the Ministry of Self Defense (MOSD) and called for new members to join,” DeMaria said.
“In late December he spoke of the MOSD going to Washington DC on January 6th. He described what sounds like an organized military structure. The messages speak of the occupation of the Capitol. He said it would be a very different operation, not a night march to show strength.”
Tarrio could claim that he “retired from the conspiracy,” but that would require taking the stand, abandoning the Proud Boys, and “turning against his own movement,” according to DeMaria. However, his attorney declined to say whether Enrique Tarrio will testify at the trial.