Proud Boys member files “1776 Returns” Capitol attack plan in court, makes things even worse for himself
There comes a point in every cliched murder mystery TV show where a suspect gets desperate and says some variation of “Okay, I robbed a few banks but I didn’t kill anyone,” without realizing he just sent himself to prison. But does this kind of thing happen in real life?
It does if you’re as dumb as the Proud Boys who are currently sitting in jail while awaiting trial on January 6th related charges. One of them tried to convince a judge to let him out on bail by filing a document called “1776 Returns,” which just happens to be the Proud Boys’ attack strategy for January 6th. No, really, the guy just entered evidence against himself into court.
The “1776 Returns” document spells out in detail how the Proud Boys intended to enter and occupy various congressional buildings and the Supreme Court building, and use it as leverage for forcing the court to hold a new 2020 election, according to CBS News. The strategy was completely insane; no new election would have been ordered under any circumstances – and particularly not because domestic terrorists demanded one while holding people hostage.
What’s even more insane is that the Proud Boy in question apparently thought that filing the document would make him look less guilty. His legal team is making the argument that because the “1776 Returns” document focused on storming buildings that were part of the Capitol complex, but not the Capitol Hill building itself, this means… the Proud Boys weren’t seriously intending to attack or overthrow the government?
If anything, this “1776 Returns” document merely serves to show how dangerously deranged these Proud Boys are. We don’t see the judge granting this guy bail as a result of this filing.
Notably, this court filing came just hours after the January 6th Committee revealed photographs and video confirming that Rep. Barry Loudermilk gave a January 5th Capitol tour to a guy who indeed turned out to be an insurrectionist. Loudermilk is aruging that he didn’t lie when he previously claimed he never gave any January 5th Capitol tour, because the tour was technically of buildings in the Capitol complex, and not Capitol hill itself. And now a detained Proud Boy is suddenly arguing in court that the Proud Boys weren’t really trying to overthrow the government because the plans they drew up involved taking over buildings in the Capitol complex, and not Capitol hill itself. Is this just a coincidence? We’ll all find out soon enough.
