<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654546325607,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed8c-d9d9-a9ec-ffac26f80002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654546325607,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000168-ed8c-d9d9-a9ec-ffac26f80002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54015081", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1023064"} }); ","_id":"00000181-3aa5-d421-ada5-7efd59450001","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Justice Department announced on Monday that five members of the right-wing Proud Boys group were charged by the Justice Department with “seditious conspiracy” related to their alleged roles in the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.
The Justice Department says that more than 800 defendants have been arrested related to the Capitol riot, including over 250 defendants charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.
“A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment today charging five members of the Proud Boys, including the group’s former national chairman, with seditious conspiracy and other charges for their actions before and during the breach of the U.S. Capitol,” the DOJ said Monday. “Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.”
The DOJ noted that the Proud Boys organization describes itself as a “pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.” Five of the members were hit with conspiracy charges.
“From in and around December 2020, through in and around January 2021, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, the defendants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Enrique Tarrio, and Dominic Pezzola, did knowingly conspire, confederate, and agree, with other persons known and unknown to the grand jury, to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States and by force to prevent, hinder, and delay the execution of any law of the United States,” prosecutors announced in a superseding indictment.
DOJ added, “The purpose of the conspiracy was to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force.”
Prosecutors said the Proud Boys they had charged “carried out the conspiracy” by, among other things, encouraging Proud Boys members and others to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, obtaining “paramilitary gear and supplies — including concealed tactical vests, protective equipment, and radio equipment” for the day, dressing “incognito” that day instead of in the usual black and yellow Proud Boys colors, “directing, mobilizing, and leading” members of the crowd onto Capitol grounds and into the Capitol, “storming past barricades, Capitol police, and other law enforcement officers” to “disrupt” the proceedings, and “assaulting law enforcement officers.”
The DOJ noted that a sixth defendant, Charles Donohoe, who was earlier charged with the group, pleaded guilty in April to a “conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.”
Michael Sherwin, then the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, first mentioned potential sedition charges in early 2021. Attorney General Merrick Garland seemed to hint at seditious conspiracy charges in a speech just before the anniversary of the riot in January.
The Justice Department announced in January that Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and 10 others had been charged with seditious conspiracy related to the Capitol riot. Rhodes, who had not previously been charged at that point, is a former U.S. Army paratrooper who later graduated from Yale Law School. He founded the right-wing group in 2009.
The Justice Department described the Oath Keepers as “a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias,” and said that the group had a specific focus on “recruiting current and former military, law enforcement, and first-responder personnel.”
Prosecutors contended that Rhodes “conspired with his co-defendants and others to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power.”
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