Enrique Tarrio’s attorney blames Trump for ‘unleashing the mob’ on January 6 at Proud Boys sedition trial

A defense attorney for former longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio blamed former president Donald Trump for “unleashing that mob” on 6 January, 2021, as a crowd of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

Sabino Jauregui – whose client is charged with seditious conspiracy along with four other members of the far-right nationalist gang – said it was Mr Trump who told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” not Tarrio or members of his group.

“Enrique didn’t say that. He didn’t say anything to anybody on the grounds of the Capitol. He just happens to be the leader of the Proud Boys,” Mr Jauregui said in his opening arguments in US District Court on 12 January.

He said federal prosecutors were unable to place blame for the riot on alleged FBI informants or security failures within the administration and law enforcement and its leadership, and “instead they go for the easy target”.

“The evidence will show it’s too difficult to blame each other as Americans … it will show it’s easier to blame Enrique as the face of the Proud Boys. Don’t let the government do it,” he said.

He claimed that there is no evidence Tarrio advocated “storming the Capitol” or “planning to storm the Capitol” as federal prosecutors seek to prove to jurors that members of the group conspired to use force and breach the halls of Congress to stop the transfer of presidential power.

“You’re not going to see it. All you’re going to see in innuendo,” he said.

Discussing a damning “we did this” message on Telegram that Tarrio posted after the riots, he said it was Tarrio’s reply to a message saying “antifa stormed the Capitol,” the attorney said.

“He was replying and saying ‘we did this,’ as not the Proud Boys, but Trump supporters over all. It’s not that he was celebrating what happened,” he added.

This is a developing story