Five Proud Boys Charged With Seditious Conspiracy

CNN reports:

The Justice Department on Monday charged the head of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, and four other leaders with seditious conspiracy in the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, escalating the criminal case against the far-right extremist group.

These are the most aggressive charges brought by the Justice Department against the Proud Boys, and are the first allegations by prosecutors that the group tried to oppose by force the presidential transfer of power.

The Justice Department has brought one other seditious conspiracy case against the leaders of the Oath Keepers, who are accused of extensively planning and preparing for violence on January 6.

The Associated Press reports:

Prosecutors have said the Proud Boys arranged for members to communicate using specific frequencies on Baofeng radios. The Chinese-made devices can be programmed for use on hundreds of frequencies, making it difficult for outsiders to eavesdrop.

In December, a federal judge refused to dismiss an earlier indictment charging four alleged leaders of the far-right Proud Boys with conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected defense attorneys’ arguments that the four men — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Charles Donohoe — were charged with conduct that is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech.

The charges expand the Justice Department’s allegations of an organized plot to unleash political violence to prevent the confirmation of President Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol. https://t.co/btaQU16Fin

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 6, 2022

The Justice Department has charged leaders of the Proud Boys — the pro-Trump extremist group that played a central role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack — with conspiring to use force to oppose the presidential transfer of power.https://t.co/GRiU4zg4Hz

— POLITICO (@politico) June 6, 2022

??BREAKING: Enrique Tarrio, longtime chairman of the extremist group Proud Boys has been indicted on a new federal charge of **seditious conspiracy** along with four top Proud Boys members, expanding the cases against them dramatically.

— Spiro Agnew’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) June 6, 2022