Proud boys informant5/16/2023 ![]() ![]() He showed the infamous video clip of Pezzola using a riot shield, stolen from a Capitol police officer, to smash through a Capitol window, allowing rioters to clamber into the building for the first time. He showed a series of incriminating videos of his client and tried to argue that what jurors were seeing wasn’t all that bad. “They operate every day with dozens of people in the hallway talking, meeting, expressing themselves,” he said. Roots also insisted that the kind of foot traffic that Congress experiences on a daily basis wasn’t much different from the riot. Can't blame the leader of the Metro Police Department.” “You can’t blame the Secret Service, it’s too difficult, even though they had preemptive intelligence. “It’s too hard to blame the FBI, even though they had embedded informants in the Proud Boy,” he continued. “It’s too hard to blame Trump, too hard to bring him to the witness stand with his army of lawyers.” “Evidence is going to show that the government has to blame someone for the attack on the Capitol on Jan. Sabino Jauregui, who’s representing Tarrio-the former “chairman” of the Proud Boys- tried to argue his client was being “scapegoated” by the government because he’s an easy target. Other lawyers took a slightly different approach. I can say it makes my stomach turn and I've been looking at it for some time.” “Some of the evidence you’ll see in this case will make your stomach turn. 6 riot as a “crass spectacle in front of the world” and a “historic embarrassment for the country.” “Surely the government is right that this was a disgraceful scene,” Smith told the jury. Smith began his opening statements by condemning the Jan. “We are not making that suggestion, and it is a repellent one.” “At no point in this case will you see Nordean produce evidence that anyone working in the government instigated Jan. Smith, in his opening statements and in pre-trial arguments, made painfully clear that by introducing informants to the case, he was in no way trying to support the baseless “fedsurrection” conspiracy theory that claims federal agents fomented the Capitol riot with the ultimate goal of smearing Trump supporters. Some of those messages appear to be quite incriminating: In particular, a now infamous message Tarrio sent as the riot was happening, saying “Make no mistake… we did this.” Judging by its opening statements, the government is likely to rely heavily on audio, video, and text messages from that encrypted “ Ministry of Self Defense” channel which were sent before, during and after the Capitol riot. “You’ll hear them testify that the march to the Capitol was “just for the camera.” “Despite being involved in the Telegram channel, there was no plan.” “You’ll hear them testify that the march to the Capitol was “just for the camera,” Smith told jurors Thursday, referring to the informants. 6, or when the FBI gained access to the Proud Boys. We also don’t know how many informants were present on Jan. 29, 2020, for a special chapter called “ Ministry of Self Defense” (or “MOSD) channel. For example, Smith indicated that these informants were in a Proud Boy Telegram channel, but we don’t know which one-in particular, whether they’d gained access to a private channel that was created by Tarrio on Dec. Many questions remain, however, about just how much information these informants were privy to before the riot, which will likely be cleared up in the coming weeks. “PBs did not do it or inspire,” the informant wrote. But it’s clear that the biggest asset to the defense’s case, by far, could be the testimony of those government informants.įor example, attorney Nick Smith, who’s representing Nordean, showed jurors a screenshot of messages from one of the informants. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison.Įach of the defendants has their own legal teams-an array of personalities and characters who are employing a grab bag of strategies and arguments they hope will exonerate their clients. ![]() 6.Īfter several delays, opening arguments finally got underway Thursday in the high-profile seditious conspiracy trial against the Proud Boy ‘s ex-“chairman” Enrique Tarrio, top organizers Joseph Biggs, Zach Rehl, and Ethan Nordean, and member Dominic Pezzola.Īll five men are accused of entering into a secret agreement to storm the Capitol, with the ultimate goal of disrupting and even preventing the peaceful transition of power. According to defense lawyers, those informants were privy to Proud Boys’ chats and even marched alongside them to the Capitol on Jan. ![]()
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