Members of the Proud Boys, the right-wing group that was a key part of the mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, returned on Friday to Capitol grounds.
After holding a news conference, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police, following a brief confrontation with a counterprotester.
Officers said they saw Tarrio hit the woman’s cellphone and her arm after the woman put the phone near his face.
She told police she wanted to make a complaint, and Tarrio was charged with simple assault.
He and others had spoken outside the Capitol, just weeks after they had been released from prison because of President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon of the Jan. 6 defendants.
More than 1,500 people were pardoned in connection with the attack.
Tarrio was released from prison less than two years into his 22-year prison sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy. He was convicted of plotting for members of his group to attack the Capitol, in an effort to keep Trump in power after he lost the election to Joe Biden.
Tarrio was not in Washington on Jan. 6, after being ordered to stay away from D.C.
Prosecutors said he had recruited people to carry out the assault on the Capitol, which delayed the congressional electoral count to certify the results of the election.
“They accused us, the Proud Boys, of plotting a coup — a lie,” Tarrio said Friday, as he gathered with several other Proud Boys and a small group of supporters.
Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly on Friday sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson about the return of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and the Proud Boys to the Capitol grounds.
“As the Speaker of the House, I call upon your office now to take meaningful action by acknowledging and condemning the violence that occurred on January 6th and assure our colleagues, staff, and the American public that those who sought to overthrow our government are not welcomed back to the Capitol through an open front door,” he said.
Members of the Proud Boys said they were initially turned away this week when they tried to attend CPAC, a conservative gathering at National Harbor in Maryland.
Ultimately, they were allowed to attend the event and CPAC issued a statement of support for the defendants. In a statement, the event said, “We support wholeheartedly President Trump’s pardons of the J6 victims.”
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