Five members of the far-right group Proud Boys —who are facing seditious conspiracy charges over their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol— plan to subpoena former President Donald Trump at their trial, New York Times journalist Alan Feuer reports.
According to Feuer, the defendants — including Enrique Tarrio, the far-right group’s longtime chairman — “intend to subpoena Donald Trump as a witness.”
It’s not immediately clear why they want Trump on the witness stand. But other Jan. 6 defendants have said they stormed the Capitol because they thought Trump wanted them to.
As reported by The Guardian, Tarrio’s defense lawyer argues that the true culprit of the insurrection was Trump, but said that it’s “too hard to blame” him since any charges would be battled by an “army of lawyers,” The Guardian reported Sunday.
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“It’s easier to blame … the Proud Boys,” Sabino Jauregui, an attorney representing Tarrio said, describing Tarrio and other defendants as mere “scapegoats.”
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who is presiding over the Proud Boys case, has already ruled that prosecutors can play a video at the trial of Trump telling the group to “stand back and stand by” during a televised debate with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2020. The startling comment was widely regarded as a message for the Proud Boys to be ready to take action if called to do so by Trump.
Kelly is allowing the video because he said the former president’s comments showed “an additional motive” for the Proud Boys to “advocate for Mr. Trump [and] engage in the charged conspiracy” to keep him in power.
New: Defendants in the Proud Boy’s’ J6 sedition case said on Wednesday that they intend to subpoena Donald Trump as a witness at the trial.
That hasn’t flown w/judges in other J6 cases so we’ll see where it goes.
— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) January 25, 2023
Last week, four members of the right-wing Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the insurrection. They could face up to 20 years in prison when sentenced.
