The Arrest of Proud Boy Leader Enrique Tarrio Already Has Revealed Startling New Evidence

Photo: Allison Dinner / AP

The indictment and subsequent motion by the government to detain Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio pending trial have disclosed two new and intriguing pieces of evidence that could significantly change the course of the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation into the January 6 insurrection.

The first is the existence of an actual written plan of attack on January 6, which made its way to Tarrio by as yet unknown or undisclosed means. The document is entitled “1776 Returns,” and as reported by The New York Times, it lays out a scheme for scoping out and then storming six House and Senate office buildings as well as the Supreme Court on the day of the protest. While the Capitol itself was not named as a target, the manner and execution of the insurrection unfolded in a fashion eerily similar to that described in the document. The nine-page plan called upon at least 50 attackers to carry out its five parts: Infiltrate, Execution, Distract, Occupy and Sit-In. It advised protesters to appear “unsuspecting” and to “not look tactical.” The document may be a prime reason prosecutors chose to charge Tarrio with conspiracy to obstruct a Congressional proceeding, even though he was not present himself at the Capitol that day.

The existence of an actual plan to storm government buildings echoes the brazen six-point “soft coup” memo prepared by Trump attorney John Eastman, which is now the focus of much of the January 6 Committee’s ongoing inquiry. That there exist actual documents openly arguing for and planning out the overturning of the election and the anti-democratic return to power of the former president is highly troubling; that they circulated widely and without apparent concern for the illegality of their proposed schemes is simply mind-numbing.

The second piece of evidence disclosed concerns an in-person meeting between Tarrio of the Proud Boys and indicted founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, which took place in an underground parking garage on January 5, 2021, the day before the insurrection. While the fact of the meeting had been reported a month ago, the details of it were shrouded. In their memorandum in support of detaining Tarrio pending trial, prosecutors for the Justice Department have now lifted the veil a bit, writing, “While in the parking garage, Tarrio told another individual that he had cleared all of the messages on his phone before he was arrested.” Further, “That evening, Tarrio used the phones of associates to make a number of phone calls, and to log back into his encrypted messaging accounts. After having regained access to his accounts, Tarrio assured his men that his phone had not been compromised.” These actions together tend to show consciousness of guilt on the part of Tarrio, while his eve-of-the-riot meeting with Rhodes (who is now charged with the most serious crime of seditious conspiracy) suggests he was far more involved in the attack than previously known. This ultimately could lead to Tarrio being charged with seditious conspiracy as well, particularly if any agreement to act in concert was reached.

Remarkably, as reported by Politico, there apparently was a documentary film crew present during the meeting. Worse still for these keystone conspirators, the crew apparently picked up audio of one person referencing the Capitol. The presence of the film crew echoes the strange and legally perilous decision by political trickster and Trump confidant Roger Stone to have his own life documented by a Danish film crew, whose filming overlapped the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. As I wrote in an earlier piece, that crew’s film evidence contains its own set of clues, including the presence of convicted seditious conspirator Joshua James in Stone’s hotel room the day of the riot. A reporter for the Washington Post noted that Tarrio’s and Rhodes’ phone numbers were among those listed in a shot of Stone’s cellular phone where he had an encrypted communications app open. 

Indeed, Stone is no stranger to the Proud Boys, having taken their pledge back in 2017. Tarrio himself is an associate of Stone, who hired him back in 2019 as one of several “volunteers” to whom he even gave access to his cell phone and social media accounts, according to Stone’s own court testimony. Tarrio has organized protests in support of Stone where he and his associates publicly wore supportive T-shirts claiming Stone had done nothing wrong. 

Stone is already blasting any notion of “guilt by association” with Tarrio, but he and others who may have been involved in the planning around the insurrection have got to be concerned. After all, Tarrio also worked in the past as an informant for the federal and local law enforcement, meaning he has flipped before and is likely to flip again, particularly if he is now looking at a 20-year sentence for conspiracy.