Proud Boys ‘took aim’ at US democracy, prosecutor tells January 6 trial

One of the most high-profile Capitol attack trials has begun, 2 years after Trump supporters stormed the building

Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio and 4 other leaders are accused of engaging in sedition by using force to try to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election

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Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, leader of The Proud Boys, holds a US flag during a protest in Miami, Florida, in July 2021. Photo: TNS

Published: 7:19am, 13 Jan 2023

US prosecutors on Thursday accused leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group of plotting an assault on American democracy as one of the most high-profile trials to stem from the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack got under way.

In an opening argument, federal prosecutor Jason McCullough told jurors that Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and four other leaders engaged in sedition by using force to try to keep Donald Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

“On January 6, they took aim at the heart of our democracy,” McCullough told jurors.

Defendants’ lawyers said it was Trump, not the Proud Boys, who spurred thousands of supporters to attack the Capitol.

Trump supporters, including many members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, clash with the US Capitol police on January 6, 2021. Photo: TNS

“He’s the one that told them to march over to the Capitol and fight like hell. Enrique didn’t say that,” said Sabino Jauregui, a lawyer for Tarrio.