Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents arrested former Proud Boys leader, Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, the former national chairman of the group, in a Tuesday dawn raid in Florida on conspiracy charges in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection.
On Tuesday afternoon, Tarrio made his initial court appearance as he was named in a superseding indictment that includes five previously charged Proud Boys defendants. The indictment against the suspect was quite unusual because he was not present during the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Proud Boys Leader
Metropolitan D.C. police authorities arrested Tarrio two days prior to the insurrection on unrelated charges. A judge barred the suspect from protesting in the city on Jan. 6, when the violent chaos occurred.
Officials added Tarrio as a defendant in an existing conspiracy case against five other Proud Boys members who are believed to have attacked the Capitol that day. The indictment claims that the former leader of the group continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Tarrio is also believed to have claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack. The situation was revealed by a news release from the Department of Justice, as per USA Today.
The suspect allegedly met with other top lieutenants of the far-right nationalist group and attempted to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Tarrio is the second individual indicted among a leader of a far-right extremist group.
The first was Steward Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who was charged in January with seditious conspiracy for what the federal government described as a plot to violently disrupt the work of Congress.
According to the New York Times, the indictment against Tarrio detailed how members of the Proud Boys participated in pro-Trump rallies in Washington well before Jan. 6 and coordinated with each other. The plans included preparation to return to the city for another rally on the day that Congress was set to certify the Electoral college vote.
Secret Meeting
Tarrio's alleged meetup with Rhodes is believed to have occurred in a parking garage and lasted for roughly 30 minutes. The indictment said that at least one participant referenced the Capitol, with the former Proud Boys leader later traveling to Baltimore.
The Department of Justice's statement said that Tarrio and his co-defendants conspired to corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, which referred to the certification of the Electoral College vote. It added that the defendants "directed, mobilized, and led members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds."
Authorities are keeping Tarrio in jail until a detention hearing scheduled on Friday because the Justice Department argued that he was a flight risk and a threat to the community. The defendant argued that he had just recently gotten a job printing T-shirts, was not in possession of a vehicle, and had no savings when the judge questioned him about his finances, CNN reported.
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