Top leaders and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been accused of rioting in a concerted effort to overthrow President Donald Trump and keep him in power. See the two teams and the accusations against them:
WHO ARE THEY?
The Proud Boys describe themselves as a politically wrong men’s club for “Western chauvinists”. Prior to the January 6 uprising, members of the Proud Boys were notorious for quarreling with anti-fascist activists at rallies and demonstrations. Less than two months before the 2020 election, members of the group celebrated when Trump refused to categorically condemn the group during his first debate with Democrat Joe Biden. Instead, Trump said the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.” Oath Keepers was founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and graduate of Yale Law School. The anti-government group is recruiting current and former military, police and first responders. Its members are committed to fulfilling the oath taken by all military and police forces to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to defend the Constitution, according to its website.
WHAT ARE THEY ACCUSED OF DOING?
Social media messages and posts detailed in court documents show how members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been discussing the need to fight to keep Trump in power since November 2020. Days after the election, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, then president of the Proud Boys, posted messages on the Internet urging his supporters to fight for the results. “Not a quarter. “Raise the black flag,” Tarrio said in a post. In another, he wrote that the Proud Boys would become “political prisoners” if Biden “steals the election”, warning that the group “will not go quietly”. “Our media is constantly accusing us of wanting to start a civil war,” Tarrio wrote in another message. “Be careful what you ask, we do not want to start … but we will be sure as f- – Finished one.” Shortly before the uprising, an anonymous man sent Tarrio a document containing plans to occupy some “critical buildings” in Washington on Jan. 6, including Parliament and Senate office buildings around the Capitol, authorities say. The document, entitled “1776 Returns,” called for “as many people as possible” to “show our politicians that we humans are responsible.” Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the uprising and charged with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest rally in December 2020. He was ordered to stay away from Washington and was not at the Capitol on January 6. Other Proud Boys, however, met at the Washington Monument on the morning of the uprising and marched to the Capitol before Trump finished his speech near the White House. As the angry mob destroyed the Capitol, members of the Proud Boys dismantled metal roadblocks and directed and led members of the crowd into the building, authorities said. The Oath Keepers also spent weeks discussing trying to overturn election results, drawing up battle plans and buying weapons, authorities say. Two days after the election, Rhodes told fans in an encrypted group chat to prepare their minds, bodies and minds for a “civil war.” Rhodes urged members to go to Washington to inform Trump “that the people are behind him” and expressed hope that Trump would call on the militia to help him stay in power, authorities say. The Oath Keepers have repeatedly written in conversations about the prospect of violence and the need, as Rhodes allegedly wrote in a text, to “scare the exits” of Congress. The group hid weapons in a hotel outside Washington as part of a “rapid reaction force” that would come to their aid if needed, prosecutors say. Days before Jan. 6, a defendant suggested taking a boat to carry “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River in his “waiting arms,” according to prosecutors. On Jan. 6, Oath Keepers wearing camouflaged combat uniforms were seen on camera passing through the crowd and entering the Capitol in a military-style stack. Rhodes is not accused of entering the Capitol building, but was seen gathered outside with several jurors after the uprising, authorities said.
WHAT WAS REVEALED AT THE HEARING?
The House’s hearing on Thursday highlighted the way in which the Proud Boys were mobilized by Trump’s comment to “stand back and stand by.” The committee also showed how members of the Proud Boys were among those who led the charge to the Capitol, having a parade there while Trump was still speaking at the Ellipse. Video released during the hearing showed Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine known as “Spaz” from Rochester, New York, using a stolen Capitol police shield to break a window, allowing the first rioters to at the building. Pezzola has been accused of rioting in the attack. A documentary filmmaker who was with the Proud Boys on January 6 testified that he witnessed a meeting the day before the Rhodes-Tarrio uprising in an underground garage. No new details were released on what the two extremist leaders said during the hearing, and prosecutors said only that one of the participants in the meeting “mentioned the Capitol”. The video of the meeting that was made public does not reveal much about their discussion. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged in separate indictments and the Department of Justice has not charged them with conspiracy. However, prosecutors said there was at least some communication between the two groups. In a statement, a man described by authorities as the leader of the Oath Keepers’s Florida chapter discussed forming an “alliance” and co-ordinating with the Proud Boys before the uprising, authorities said in court documents.
WHAT DID THE LEADERS SAY IN DEFENSE?
Rowds has said in interviews with right-wing hosts that there was no plan to invade the Capitol and that the members who did it were swindlers. However, he continued to spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, while posts on the Oath Keepers website have portrayed the group as a victim of political persecution. Oath Keeper defendants told the court that the only plan was to provide security for the rally before the uprising or to protect it from possible attacks by far-left antifa activists. The text messages revealed in court documents show the Oath Keepers discussing security plans around Jan. 6 for Trump’s longtime political confidant, Roger Stone, and “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander. Defense attorney Nayib Hassan said Tarrio never instructed or encouraged anyone to enter the Capitol or engage in any violence or disaster on January 6. Hassan also described the prosecutors’ arguments regarding the meeting in the garage with Rhodes as “superficial at best”. Tarrio went to a nearby hotel to get information about a possible lawyer representing him in the vandalism case, Hassan said in a court statement. A jury trial for Tarrio and four other Proud Boys accused of conspiracy to commit is scheduled to begin on August 8. The trial for Rhodes and four other members and associates of Oath Keepers is scheduled to begin on September 26. up to 20 years in prison.
