Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four others have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
Seditious conspiracy, serious and rarely prosecuted, holds that two or more people not only conspired to carry out an attack, but did so with an intention to "overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States."
Prosecutors say Tarrio, who was not on the Capitol grounds during the incident, helped coordinate the violent efforts to disrupt Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.
Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, also charged, stood at the front of a massive crowd that marched to the Capitol following a speech by defeated President Donald Trump.
Biggs and Tarrio, prosecutors said, called for "war" ahead of the incident.
All five men have been detained and have pleaded not guilty.
The indictment was handed down Monday by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.
Tarrio, who leads the Proud Boys organization, described by the Anti-Defamation League as representing "an unconventional strain of American right-wing extremism," has been jailed since being indicted with five other senior Proud Boys leaders in March on charges of conspiracy to obstruct a federal proceeding: aiding and abetting the obstruction of a federal proceeding; obstruction of law enforcement; destruction of government property; and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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