Tag: Proud Boys

Proud Boy recruits reveal the group revels in the glorification of rape and murder: report

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In interviews with USA Today’s Will Carless, three men with ties to the Wisconsin chapter of the far-right Proud Boys confessed that they expected something more along the lines of a drinking club when they joined up — only to find the organization riddled with racism, homophobia and some members glorifying murder and rape.

According to 40-year-old Army veteran Daniel Berry, a friend at a Wisconsin VFW recommended the Proud Boys to him by pointing out, “The group was vocal in its support for then-President Donald Trump, whom Berry had voted for. They called themselves ‘Western chauvinists’ and said they welcomed true men. That sounded about right for Berry, who considers himself a dyed-in-the-wool patriot,” so he checked them out and sent them an email.

What he found later — after being invited into a private chatroom — disgusted him. Continue reading.

To build a crowd for a pro-Trump rally, Nevada GOP consultant sought help from Proud Boys

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Two days after the tumultuous 2020 election, as President Donald Trump railed that his victory had been stolen, a small group of men dressed in yellow-and-black Proud Boys shirts appeared with dozens of other Trump supporters to protest the counting of ballots at Nevada’s biggest voting center.

The rally at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, one of many such demonstrations around the nation, looked like an organic response to a president then trailing in early returns and threatening anew to contest his defeat. But private messages from Facebook and interviews show the extent of the efforts, in at least one battleground state, to demonstrate the appearance of grass-roots energy to spread Trump’s falsehoods about the election. His claims would only grow over the coming months, culminating in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The behind-the-scenes maneuverings in Nevada involved a liberal activist who had faked a persona to get close to far-right activists, and a consultant working with the state Republican Party who contacted her in a bid to recruit the Proud Boys, a far-right men’s group, to attend the rally. Continue reading.

Proud Boys member who allegedly shouted about taking the Capitol before breach arrested

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U.S. authorities have arrested three more alleged associates of two right-wing groups in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, including one who allegedly shouted, “Let’s take the f—ing Capitol!” an hour before the assault while marching with a large group of Proud Boys around the building.

Charging papers identified Daniel Lyons Scott, 28, of Bradenton, Fla., as the Proud Boys member nicknamed “Milkshake,” who after allegedly yelling about taking the Capitol was admonished, “Let’s not f—ing yell that, okay?” by a Proud Boys leader on a video live-streamed by the group that day. In the same moments, court documents allege, accused leader Ethan Nordean was recorded saying, “It was Milkshake, man, you know . . . idiot!”

Nordean and three other Proud Boys seen near him that day have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to obstruct police and the joint session of Congress to confirm the 2020 election results. Continue reading.

Proud Boys conspired in multiple encrypted channels ahead of Jan. 6 riot, fearing criminal gang charges, U.S. alleges

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U.S. prosecutors accused Proud Boys leaders from four states of conspiring to overwhelm police and obstruct Congress in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, revealing detailed new encrypted communications between alleged leaders including an “unindicted co-conspirator” and two newly arrested defendants.

An indictment unsealed Friday charging Zach Rehl, 35, a president of the group’s chapter in Philadelphia, and Charles Donohoe, 33, an organizer in Winston-Salem, N.C., alleges they were among 60 others who communicated on an encrypted channel called “Boots on the Ground” and discussed how one already charged defendant wanted to “go over tomorrow’s plan.” Charging papers allege the group feared it was so close to being uncovered by the FBI and hit with criminal gang counts that they erased, or “nuked,” their prior communications on Jan. 4.

The indictment charged Rehl and Donahoe with six counts, including conspiracy to aid and abet the obstruction of Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 presidential election and police trying to prevent civil disorder. Continue reading.

Proud Boys Leaders in Four States Are Charged in Capitol Riot

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Prosecutors accused prominent members of the far-right nationalist group of conspiring together in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.

WASHINGTON — F.B.I. agents have arrested two organizers for the Proud Boys in Philadelphia and North Carolina, and prosecutors filed new charges against two other prominent members of the far-right group in Florida and Washington State as federal authorities continued their crackdown on its leadership ranks, three law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.

With the new conspiracy indictment, prosecutors have now brought charges against a total of 13 people identified in court papers as members of the Proud Boys. Federal investigators have described the group, which appeared in force in Washington on Jan. 6, as one of the chief instigators of the riot at the Capitol that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer.

In the indictment, prosecutors accused Charles Donohoe, a Proud Boys leader from North Carolina, and Zach Rehl, the president of the group’s chapter in Philadelphia, of conspiring to interfere with law enforcement officers at the Capitol and obstruct the certification of President Biden’s electoral victory. Two other high-ranking Proud Boys who were already facing similar charges — Ethan Nordean of Auburn, Wash., and Joseph Biggs of Ormond Beach, Fla. — were also implicated as part of the conspiracy. Continue reading.

Proud Boys leader reveals feds met with him before violent rallies and provided him with tips: report

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In a deep dive by the New York Times into the now-changing relationship between law enforcement officials and the extreme right-wing Proud Boys, one of the leaders of the group admitted that he exchanged information with federal authorities before their rallies that often turned violent.

According to the report, law enforcement officials for years have ignored the growing violence at Proud Boy rallies — choosing instead to arrest their antagonists — but things have changed since the Jan 6th riot when supporters of Donald Trump overran the Capitol and sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.

As the Times’ David Kirkpatrick and Alan Feuer wrote of the Proud Boys, “The group’s propensity for violence and extremism was no secret. But the F.B.I. and other agencies had often seen the Proud Boys as they chose to portray themselves, according to more than a half-dozen current and former federal officials: as mere street brawlers who lacked the organization or ambition of typical bureau targets like neo-Nazis, international terrorists and Mexican drug cartels.” Continue reading.

Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol

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Two Proud Boys accused of leading a mob to Congress followed a bloody path to get there. Law enforcement did little to stop them.

A protester was burning an American flag outside the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland when Joseph Biggs rushed to attack. Jumping a police line, he ripped the man’s shirt off and “started pounding,” he boasted that night in an online video.

But the local police charged the flag burner with assaulting Mr. Biggs. The city later paid $225,000 to settle accusations that the police had falsified their reports out of sympathy with Mr. Biggs, who went on to become a leader of the far-right Proud Boys.

Two years later, in Portland, Ore., something similar occurred. A Proud Boy named Ethan Nordean was caught on video pushing his way through a crowd of counterprotesters, punching one of them, then slamming him to the ground, unconscious. Once again, the police charged only the other man in the skirmish, accusing him of swinging a baton at Mr. Nordean. Continue reading.

F.B.I. Finds Contact Between Proud Boys Member and Trump Associate Before Riot

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A leader of the far-right group separately said he had been in touch with Roger Stone, but an official said it was not the same contact investigators found through electronic communications records.

WASHINGTON — A member of the far-right nationalist Proud Boys was in communication with a person associated with the White House in the days just before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Location, cellular and call record data revealed a call tying a Proud Boys member to the Trump White House, the official said. The F.B.I. has not determined what they discussed, and the official would not reveal the names of either party.

The connection revealed by the communications data comes as the F.B.I. intensifies its investigation of contacts among far-right extremists, Trump White House associates and conservative members of Congress in the days before the attack. Continue reading.

Proud Boys leader throws pals under the bus for attacking Capitol during CNN interview

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In an interview with CNN’s Sara Sidner, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio admitted that, although he encouraged members of his far-right group to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan 6th that led to a riot at the Capitol building, he doesn’t believe the election was stolen from Donald Trump — and then added that members of the Proud Boys who entered the building broke the law.

Tarrio, who has been accused of being an FBI informant and was not on the Capitol grounds the day of the insurrection because he was in jail, stated that he had no sympathy for the terrorized lawmakers, telling Sidner, “I’m not gonna cry about people who don’t give a crap about their constituents. I’m not going to sympathize with them.”

“They [lawmakers] are doing the job that the people put them there to do, and if they don’t like it, they can vote them out,” the CNN correspondent asked. “They are still Americans, they are still human beings who felt that their lives were in danger. How can you not feel any sympathy or any empathy towards them like that?” Continue reading.

Proud Boy charged in Capitol riot slams Trump’s ‘deception’

A member of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys who was arrested for partaking in the riot at the U.S. Capitol told a court on Wednesday that he was lulled into “deception” by former President Donald Trump and “acted out of the delusional belief” that he was being patriotic by storming the Capitol, POLITICO reports.

Dominic Pezzola was charged with conspiracy last month and is asking a federal court to grant his release pending trial, saying that his membership in the Proud Boys was minimal and that he has no other criminal history. But as POLITICO points out, most notable in Pezzola’s defense is his repudiation of Trump. 

“[D]efendant acted out of the delusional belief that he was a ‘patriot’ protecting his country … He was responding to the entreaties of the-then commander in chief, President Trump,” Pezzola’s lawyer argued. “The President maintained that the election had been stolen and it was the duty of loyal citizens to ‘stop the steal.’ Admittedly there was no rational basis for the claim, but it is apparent defendant was one of millions of Americans who were misled by the President’s deception.” Continue reading.