Proud Boys trial : Police testify to ‘dire’ scene on Jan 6 as far-right group faces sedition charges

Zachary Rehl’s attorney Carmen Hernandez was prepared to present a slideshow for her opening arguments, but Judge Timothy Kelly stopped her before she could start.

It turns out nobody from the prosecution reviewed the slides beforehand.

The first slide said “Zachary Rehl is innocent”.

“I don’t know what we’re about to experience here,” the judge said.

“The reason we are delayed is because Ms Hernandez did not follow my order. Not because of the government nitpicking,” he added.

Carmen Hernandez, a defense attorney for Zachary Rehl, said the Philadelphia-area Proud Boy traveled to Washington DC “to celebrate our country and participate in our values”.

He is described in court documents as a Philadelphia chapter leader of the far-right group.

“Hopefully the firing squads are for the traitors that are trying to steal the election from the American people,” he said in the days after the 2020 presidential election, according to a federal indictment.

He also allegedly circulated a document called “1776 Returns” that laid out a plan to breach buildings around the US Capitol, the US Supreme Court and CNN.

In a court filing, Ms Hernandez said the document was “never shared or otherwise discussed with Mr Rehl” and was sent to Enrique Tarrio “by a female acquaintance”.

“Mr Rehl does not know the woman who sent the document and has not had any conversations with her,” she wrote in the filing.

An attorney for defendant Joe Biggs who was suspended from practising law in his home state has been allowed to defend his client in the Proud Boys trial.

Norm Pattis previously defended conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a defamation case brought by parents of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

He was effectively barred from the Proud Boys trial after he was suspended from practising law in his home state of Connecticut for six months.

Mr Pattis previously called his client’s case a “righteous fight” when he joined in June. Justice Department attorneys have tried to keep him out of the Proud Boys trial.

“Defendant Biggs has a right to choose his counsel, but that right is not unbounded,” attorneys for the Justice Department wrote in a filing on 9 January. “Just as a defendant has no Sixth Amendment right to ‘choose’ a counsel he cannot afford, a defendant has no right to ‘choose’ a counsel that does not have a license to practice law.”

Mr Pattis had offered to withdraw from the case but Judge Timothy Kelly has paused the idea while conflicts of interest issues are sorted out with Mr Biggs’s other attorney.

On Thursday, he told the judge that he received a stay of execution of his license.

There was no objection from federal prosecutors.

The second day of opening arguments and testimony will resume on Friday after federal prosecutors and several defense attorneys gave opening statements in the seditious conspiracy trial for members of the Proud Boys.

Jurors will return to court at 9am on Friday.

Two days before the January 6 insurrection, now-former Proud Boys chair Enrique Tarrio was arrested by Washington DC police moments after stepping off a plane from Miami.

He was wanted by police after he admitted to tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter flag outside a historically Black church in the nation’s capital during December riots connected to a protest supporting Donald Trump’s bogus claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

“The arrest of Enrique Tarrio enraged these defendants,” according to Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough’s opening arguments in the seditious conspiracy trial against five members of the far-right gang on 12 January.

His arrest, law enforcement actions in the wake of November and December protests and riots, and Trump’s “be wild” tweet motivated Proud Boys into action for January 6, according to prosecutors.

“The time for standing back and standing by was over,” Mr McCullough added. “It was time to mobilise.”

The purpose of returning to the nation’s capitol after “Stop the Steal” rallies “was clear,” he added.

“They were coming to stop Congress rom certifying the election from Joe Biden,” Mr McCullough said. “As Enrique Tarrio explained in his post on 1 January, ‘lets bring in the new year with one word in mind. Revolt.’”

Another high-profile seditious conspiracy case resulted in convictions against two members of the far-right anti-government militia group the Oath Keepers, including its founder and leader Stewart Rhodes.

It was the biggest case yet in a sprawling federal investigation into the Capitol attack, and built with mountains of painstakingly recreated text messages detailing a violent plot to overthrow the government.

“They said it out loud and in writing,” federal prosecutors said in their opening arguments.

Far-right internet troll and streaming personality Anthime Gionet, better known as Baked Alaska, has been sentenced to 60 days in prison with two years of probation for his role in the attack on the US Capitol in 2021.

The conspiracy theorist was sentenced in US District Court in Washington DC on 10 January. He also is required to pay a $2,000 fine.

Gionet pleaded guilty on 22 July to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, after he live-streamed himself on the platform DLive for more than 20 minutes from inside the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, including using a phone inside a Senate office.

Transcripts of depositions released by the House January 6 select committee show the Secret Service notified White House leaders after Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was admitted onto the 18-acre complex for a tour.

Mr Tarrio, who is currently on trial for seditious conspiracy, attended a tour of the executive mansion on 12 December 2020 – the same day he vandalised a Black Lives Matter sign by setting it ablaze after stealing it from a Black church.

A defence attorney for former longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio blamed former president Donald Trump for “unleashing that mob” on 6 January, 2021, as a crowd of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

Sabino Jauregui – whose client is charged with seditious conspiracy along with four other members of the far-right nationalist gang – said it was Mr Trump who told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” not Tarrio or members of his group.

“Enrique didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything to anybody on the grounds of the Capitol. He just happens to be the leader of the Proud Boys,” Mr Jauregui said in his opening arguments in US District Court on 12 January.

Members of the far-right nationalist gang the Proud Boys rallied a crowd to “take the f****** Capitol” as a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021.

In opening arguments in a trial for five members of the group charged with seditious conspiracy for their actions leading up to and during the attack, federal prosecutors showed video taken roughly 20 minutes before then-President Donald Trump addressed his supporters at a nearby rally.

Jurors were shown video of defendant Ethan Nordean from 11.41am on January 6, 2021, according to prosecutors. Someone can be heard saying “Ethan, let’s f****** do it”. Moments later, at 11.47am, that person tells the crowd “take the f****** Capitol”.