One month after being pardoned by President Trump, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested for assaulting a protester during a news conference outside the Capitol. Tarrio struck the protester’s arm as she interrupted him. His arrest shocked many, coming just after his pardon for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, where he had been serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy. Tarrio and other Jan. 6 defendants at the event aimed to downplay their involvement in the violence and criticized police for their actions that day. The gathering drew attention from other pardoned rioters.
One month after receiving a pardon from President Trump for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was arrested once again for allegedly assaulting a protester during a peculiar news conference held outside the Capitol on Friday.
Mr. Tarrio was escorted away by the Capitol Police after he swiped at a protester who had been incessantly disrupting him and other speakers at the event by blowing a whistle and shouting insults. According to a Capitol Police spokesperson, Mr. Tarrio hit the woman’s arm as she brought her cellphone close to his face.
He was later charged with simple assault.
This incident marks a striking turn of events, with Mr. Tarrio — recently pardoned — being taken into custody once more after appearing with several other January 6 defendants outside the very building that was the focal point of the riot that led to the imprisonment of many of them. The officers involved in the arrest were from the same organization that experienced the brunt of the mob’s violence that day.
Prior to receiving clemency from Mr. Trump, Mr. Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence following his conviction on seditious conspiracy charges during an extensive trial in Washington two years earlier. His four co-defendants in the case — Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola — were also in attendance at the news conference, though they did not engage in confrontations with protesters.
Mr. Biggs mentioned that the five men dispersed after the publicity event concluded, moving in different directions to avoid drawing further attention from protesters. He found out about Mr. Tarrio’s arrest only after returning to the hotel where he was staying while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with the other Proud Boys.
The event at the Capitol, which Mr. Tarrio had been promoting during CPAC, seemed to be an opportunity for him and his fellow members of the far-right group to present their version of events from January 6.
The men attempted to downplay their involvement in the violence that occurred that day, blaming the police and asserting that their joint prosecution, which led to a multiweek trial, had been unjust.
When a reporter asked Mr. Pezzola, who had used a stolen police riot shield to break a window at the Capitol, if his actions had intensified the chaos on-site, he expressed his disagreement.
“Escalated? No,” he replied. “It was escalated by the police.”
Stewart Rhodes, another far-right leader convicted of sedition in relation to January 6, also addressed the audience at the news conference. However, his remarks were largely overshadowed by protesters using whistles and air horns. Mr. Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers militia, was serving an 18-year prison sentence when Mr. Trump commuted his sentence on Inauguration Day.
Numerous other pardoned rioters, who were already in Washington for CPAC, also participated in the event at the Capitol. This included Jake Lang, who faced charges for assaulting police with a baseball bat, and Richard Barnett, who carried an electric prod into the Capitol, where he was seen lounging with his feet on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.