Proud Boys leader Tarrio, 4 top lieutenants charged with seditious conspiracy in widening Jan. 6 cas

[herding cats]

Source: Washington Post

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, longtime chairman of the extremist group Proud Boys, was indicted on a new federal charge of seditious conspiracy with four top lieutenants on Monday. The charges expand the Justice Department’s allegations of an organized plot to unleash political violence to prevent the confirmation of President Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Tarrio, 38, was not in Washington that day, but allegedly guided the group’s activities from nearby Maryland as Proud Boys members engaged in the earliest and most aggressive attacks to confront and overwhelm police at several critical points on restricted Capitol grounds. One co-defendant, Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y., broke through the first window of the building at 2:13 p.m. with a stolen police riot shield, authorities said.

A new 10-count superseding indictment returned Monday morning charges Tarrio, Pezzola and three other existing co-defendants — Ethan Nordean, of Seattle, Joe Biggs, of the Daytona Beach area, and Zachary Rehl, of Philadelphia — with coordinating travel to Washington and the movements of the group around the Capitol that day. The group is also accused of plotting to foment a riot and storm Congress, action that eventually forced the evacuation of lawmakers meeting to confirm the 2020 election results.

Federal prosecutors previously leveled the historically rare charge of seditious conspiracy for the first time in the Jan. 6 attack against the founder and leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, and 10 associates. Since filing the charges in January, a year after the mob violence, two of Rhodes’s co-defendants and one other Oath Keeper member have pleaded guilty to the charge and are cooperating with the Justice Department: Joshua James, 34, of Alabama, Brian Ulrich, 44, of Georgia, and William Todd Wilson, 44, of North Carolina.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/06/06/tarrio-proud-boys-seditious-conpiracy/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Beat me to it!

What I noted was that earlier, there were Oathkeepers (I think 18 of 19) who were charged with seditious conspiracy...just to keep track.

[herding cats]

6. Yes, back in January if I recall?

It's good to see Justice being handed out to these people!

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Yes, they were indicted back in January

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-oath-keepers-and-10-other-individuals-indicted-federal-court-seditious-conspiracy-and

and at least 3 guilty pleas (and supposedly cooperation) had actually happened by last month.

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Doncha just LOVE superseding indictments

On a side note, whoever is the GOP nominee in 2024 should be asked at every press conference, interview and debate:

“Will you pledge, here and now, that as president, you will NOT PARDON any of the January 6 insurrectionists?”

They must be asked again, and again, and again, with no allowances for weasel words.

Edit to add:
With terrorism enhancements, these morons are looking at up to 40 years in prison.

[erronis]

16. Awe, come on. You know these repuglcons. They'll say anything and mean the opposite.

They'll even lie to get on the supremes.

The power to pardon needs to be constrained severely. It has been over-used and abused, especially recently but even during some earlier admins.

[SergeStorms]

18. Like republicans wouldn't lie about that?

They lie about 99.9% of everything else.

Believing some sort of non-binding pledge would deter them from pardoning the insurrectionists is quite a stretch of the imagination.

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. Oh, I'm not suggesting they would tell the truth

I’m suggesting that it’s critical that the nominee be asked that question, repeatedly, to keep it in the front of the minds of the voters.

The nominee’s answer, or non-answer, or squirming while being forced to answer simply and clearly, would simply be gravy.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. Waiting for the goalposts to move... nt

[Alexander Of Assyria]

4. Thank you DOJ...fry the small fish first....seditious conspiracy charged, convictions secured.

Cue the when is Garland gonna do something!??

I recall when there was great debate about whether such a charge was appropriate.. or no way convictions ever happen! Now not so much.

I swear, sometimes folks just want to do some biatchin, good news or not.

[AllaN01Bear]

5. so, when are we going to get hold of that orange floating fat man?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

9. Soon...first get the small fish jumping out of the hot water onto his bloated body.

All these charges and convictions and jail time…nice, right? But it’s just a warm up. For the Big Show.

[ancianita]

7. To the DOJ doubters: SEE? 16 seditious conspiracy charges! Happy now?

[ZonkerHarris]

8. Beat me to it

[ancianita]

10. The DOJ moves to make top charges before the June 9 hearing, and increase the prime time audience.

[paleotn]

22. I;m happy. That's a heck of a lot of seditious conspiracy indictments.

These are the smaller fish Justice can indict without Dems being accused of politically weaponizing the Justice Dept. After the Jan 6 committee gives Justice political cover, I expect larger fish to face the same charges. Those with seats in Congress and spots in the prior administration. Possibly a former president...I hope.

[ancianita]

23. Exactly.

Exactly. Good point about how the DOJ now can't possibly look weaponized.

[IronLionZion]

11. Just in time for Pride Month

These boys have nothing to be proud of. They should be ashamed boys.

[towerbum]

13. wonder if their favorite party will help with attorney's?

[greenjar_01]

14. All these guys are fucking garbage dumps, but Pezzola in particular needs to get real time

He's a true piece of shit and violent scumbag.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

15. Hard time for these scumbag traitors.

[onetexan]

17. Can someone explain to me how someone of afro-cuban descent is the leader of a white supremacy group

I can't seem to grasp the irony here.

[Ford_Prefect]

19. The first of many, many more...

[sop]

20. Well, these Proud Boys who won't be infiltrating the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee

or running for Congress any time soon. Good luck in prison, guys.

[IcyPeas]

25. He should reach out to the Huckabees

next governor of Arkansas - Sarah Huckabee

Link to tweet

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

26. Lock them up!!!!!

[jmowreader]

27. I am going to assume...

...that an order to disband the Proud Boys and never reform a similar group isn't going to be an allowable sentence.

That's one of the things that really needs to happen to all these organized insurrectionists: no more Oath Keepers, no more Proud Boys, no more Patriot Prayer, no more Praetorian Guard, no more Three Percenters...these groups are a threat to our democracy as long as they exist.