In the uneasy days before Congress met in January 2021 to certify the presidential election, Enrique Tarrio and other senior members of the Proud Boys plotted a rebellion at the U.S. Capitol building to stop the lawful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, federal authorities say.
Tarrio, the Miami-based leader of the 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 “storm the Capitol” and ring in the new year with a “revolution,” according to an indictment.
Nearly two years after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol building, Tarrio and four other senior members of the Proud Boys will stand trial on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., on charges of a conspiring to commit sedition, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and related offenses. The trial will begin as a House committee convenes Monday to discuss its final report on the Jan. 6 insurrection and consider criminal referrals against Trump and his top allies in an alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election.
