The former chairman of the far-right group the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, has been ordered detained by a Miami judge while prosecutors have obtained a document that shows a plan to storm government buildings on 6 January.
The document was cited by federal prosecutors last week when they charged Mr Tarrio with conspiracy.
A magistrate judge in Miami, Florida ordered on Tuesday that Mr Tarrio be detained as he awaits trial on charges stemming from the 6 January riot, when Trump supporters laid siege to the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results and stop President Joe Biden from taking office.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion to have Mr Tarrio detained on Monday, arguing that he may flee or attempt to obstruct justice.
The Department of Justice said in a 21-page filing that it had reviewed encrypted messages between Mr Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys, in which Mr Tarrio invited them to join a new group he had formed in December 2020 called the “Ministry Of Self-Defence” or “MOSD”.
Mr Tarrio’s lawyer, Nayib Hassan, told reporters that his client left Washington, DC on 5 January 2021, before the attack on the Capitol.
“It’s our estimation as far as what we have reviewed right now that the evidence is weak,” he said, according to Reuters.
More than 775 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol riot. Mr Tarrio was arrested on 4 January 2021 after burning a Black Lives Matter flag at an African-American church in December 2020. He served four months in jail.
Prosecutors say that he was an active leader behind the scenes, telling his followers on social media not to leave the Capitol and adding in an encrypted chat, “we did this”.
Mr Hassan said Mr Tarrio has posed “no danger to the community whatsoever”, following the 6 January riot.
People familiar with the document say it reveals a detailed plan to storm government buildings around the Capitol on 6 January.
The plan laid out in the document, called “1776 Returns”, was to take control of six House and Senate office buildings and the Supreme Court, according to The New York Times.
What’s not mentioned is an attack on the Capitol building, but the detailed timeline for overthrowing government buildings that the document set out is similar to what actually took place on 6 January 2021.
Who authored the documents and how Mr Tarrio got ahold of it on 30 December 2020 remains unknown.
People familiar with the documents have said that he may have received it from a girlfriend, the paper reported. He hasn’t been accused of using the document to guide the actions of the Proud Boys, who were heavily involved in the riot.
But the document could be a part of why Mr Tarrio has been charged with conspiracy, despite that he wasn’t at the Capitol on 6 January.
The document is nine pages long and comes in five parts: Infiltrate, Execution, Distract, Occupy, and Sit-In.
People familiar with the document told the Times that it planned for the recruitment of at least 50 people to enter each of the seven buildings and for them to seem “unsuspecting” and to “not look tactical”.
When the buildings are “full and ready to go,” the documents state that “leads and seconds” will enter and open doors to allow others to come inside and to be “causing trouble” to distract guards, if needed.
If the crowds aren’t able to enter the buildings fast enough, the document states that fire alarms should be pulled at stores, hotels, and museums in the area to distract security and police officials. The document states that protesters should occupy the buildings, conduct sit-ins and chant slogans such as “We the people” and “No Trump, No America”.
Ahead of 6 January, the document advises protesters to “scope out” possible road closures to the buildings and for “scouts” to drive around the buildings early that same morning to look for “roadblocks”.
Many parts of the document appear to be for “internal” use but a passage called the “Patriot Plan” appears to have been meant for public distribution. It is suggested that protesters start to assemble at the buildings at 1pm to half an hour later wait for a “signal from lead” and then “storm” the buildings.
More than 30 Proud Boys have been charged in connection with the riot. Many more of the group’s members took part but haven’t been charged with crimes. The group was instrumental during several important moments during the Capitol attack, such as when the barricades were first breached.
Prosecutors said that even though Mr Tarrio wasn’t “physically taking part in the breach of the Capitol”, he still “led the advance planning and remained in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during” the attack. Prosecutors have claimed that he told members before the riot to not wear their black and yellow shirts but to instead be “incognito”.
“Proud of my boys and my country,” Mr Tarrio wrote on social media as lawmakers ran for shelter.
Prosecutors say a member asked in the encrypted chat: “Are we a militia yet?”
“Yep,” Mr Tarrio allegedly replied.
