DOJ indicts Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for January 6th – and it’s time for Trump world to worry
The Department of Justice just criminally indicted and arrested Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio on conspiracy charges for his role in the January 6th Capitol attack. The indictment text alleges that even though Tarrio didn’t physically participate in the Capitol attack, he’s guilty because he helped plan it and remained in contact with the attackers during the attack. This is really bad news for any Trump people who did the same.
This Proud Boys takedown comes weeks after the Oath Keepers leadership was indicted for conspiracy, and days after Roger Stone’s Oath Keepers driver Joshua James cut a cooperating plea deal on conspiracy. It’s clear that the DOJ now has the hate group leadership nailed, and is looking to flip them upward against the next rung in the 1/6 conspiracy.
The DOJ also appears to have detailed knowledge – and maybe even a recording – of a January 5th meeting between Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. It’s not clear if this evidence came from the James plea deal, or if other hate group leaders are also cooperating. Either way, with one cooperation deal publicly confirmed, and perhaps more than one in place, it’s time for Stone, Alex Jones, and other Trump people to start thinking about whether they’ll flip if they’re indicted next.
It’s previously been reported that in years past, Tarrio acted as a government informant against his own hate groups. That obviously went south at some point, if he’s now being indicted. But if he’s a previous cooperator, and he’s now facing prison again, he may decide to cut a cooperating plea deal again.
In any case, today’s events deals yet another blow to the popular but baseless narrative that the DOJ is doing “nothing.” It makes you wonder if the doomsday types will still be repeating this nonsense once the likes of Stone and Jones are indicted and arrested. But their defeatism doesn’t erase the clear pattern here: the DOJ has now taken down the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leadership over the Capitol attack, and has now begun the process of flipping them upward. The next rung up is Trump world.
