- Prosecutors added seditious conspiracy charges against Enrique Tarrio and other Proud Boys members.
- Members of the far-right Oath Keepers group had previously been charged with seditious conspiracy.
- The indictment notes a meeting Tarrio attended before January 6 in an underground parking garage.
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was charged Monday with seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, as federal prosecutors added new accusations to an earlier indictment of the far-right group's onetime chairman.
Tarrio, 38, was charged along with four top other members of the Proud Boys group: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola. All five of them have been detained for months on separate charges connected to the Capitol attack, including obstruction of an official proceeding.
In adding the seditious conspiracy charge, the Justice Department alleged that Tarrio and the four other Proud Boys members engaged in an organized plot to violently prevent the certification of now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory over former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department previously charged Oath Keepers leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes and other members of the far-right group with seditious conspiracy. In that case, prosecutors alleged that Rhodes oversaw a plot that featured a cache of weapons in a hotel room outside Washington, DC, and a so-called "quick reaction force" kept on standby.
In the new indictment against Tarrio, federal prosecutors alleged that he met with Rhodes and other individuals before January 6 in an underground parking garage near the Capitol. "During this encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol," the indictment states.
Tarrio was not in Washington, DC, on January 6 but played a role in guiding the Proud Boys as they dismantled metal barricades and breached the Capitol as Congress prepared to certify Biden's victory. During and after the attack, prosecutors said, Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys claimed credit for the attack on social media and in encrypted messages.
At 7:39 pm, for instance, Tarrio received messages that read, "Brother. You know we made this happen," and, "I'm so proud of my country today."
"I know," Tarrio replied.
Hours earlier, Tarrio posted on social media, “Proud Of My Boys and my country.”
Tarrio and the other Proud Boys members are set to appear in court Thursday for a virtual hearing.
The new charges come just days before the House committee investigating January 6 is scheduled to hold the first of several hearings about the Capitol attack.
Previewing the first of those hearings, set for 8 pm on Thursday, the House panel said it would present previously unseen material documenting January 6 and "provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power."
This is a developing story.