Recently freed by President Trump’s pardons, two of the country’s most notorious leaders – Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers – spoke out this week.
Although the men avoided any announcements about the future of their stricken organizations, they adamantly asserted that they wanted Mr. Trump retaliated against his prosecution in connection with the attack on the Capitol in Jan. 6, 2021.
Before Mr. Trump gave the go-ahead on Monday night, both men were serving long sentences – Mr Tarrio 22 years and Mr Rhodes 18 – on treason charges for their roles in the attack on the Capitol. The charges they faced and the punishment they received were among the most serious of any of the nearly 1,600 people prosecuted on January 6.
Perhaps for that reason, their comments, delivered to a mostly friendly audience, were punctuated by a cautiously aggressive voice.
They were worried about what kind of profile the organizations they once led would take on a second Trump administration. But they clearly agree with what the president and his allies said that those who wanted to arrest Mr.
“Success,” said Mr. Tarrio, “it will be a punishment.”
Mr. Tarrio made those comments to Alex Jones, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist and owner of the news outlet Infowars. He called the show of Mr. Jones hours after he was released from a state prison in Louisiana and immediately thanked Mr. Trump “for helping us in these difficult times and freeing me.”
“Twenty-two years – this is not a short sentence,” he said. “That’s my whole life. So Trump gave me my life back. “
Mr. Tarrio then began a sustained attack in a criminal case in the Washington District Court in which he and three of his subordinates were found guilty of treason – a crime that requires prosecutors to prove that the defendants used violent force against the government.
He said the judge was biased and it was wrong for him to hold the case in Washington.
“I think they didn’t care about the evidence,” he said of the jury that convicted him. “They cared about putting Trump supporters in jail.”
The Proud Boys played an important role in Jan. 6 both in confronting the police at the Capitol and encouraging other protesters to break the police cordon. While Mr. Tarrio was not in Washington that day, and prosecutors say he helped prepare his compatriots for street fights and stayed in touch with them as the mob — led by the Proud Boys — stormed the Capitol.
In his first hours of freedom, he was also focused on seeking revenge on those who investigated and prosecuted the events of Jan. 6. “Now it’s our turn,” said Mr. Tarrio.
“The people who did this, need to feel the heat,” he said. “They should be put in jail and they should be prosecuted.”
At a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Trump was asked whether far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers would have a place in the political debate given his extensive efforts to pardon their members or commute their sentences.
“Well, we have to see,” replied Mr. “They were granted amnesty. I thought their sentences were stupid and excessive.”
Mr. Rhodes also said he was looking to be paid when he arrived Tuesday afternoon at a local jail in Washington that has held several January 6 defendants over the years and has served as a focal point for protests against federal prosecutions. they don’t rebel.
He said, for example, he hopes that Kash Patel, the choice of Mr. Trump to run the FBI, he will “go in there and clean house” in the office. He also accused the people who were overseeing his case of breaking the law.
“What should happen first,” said Mr. Rhodes, “that prosecutors who charge perjury – that’s a crime – need to be prosecuted for their crimes.”
At his sentencing hearing in 2023, Mr. Rhodes said contemptuously that he was a “political prisoner,” comparing himself to Soviet-era dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the distraught protagonist in Kafka’s “The Trial.”
Outside of the DC jail, he wasn’t remorseful either. When asked how history should remember Jan. 6, he said, “Like Valentine’s Day – that we stood up for our country because we knew the election was stolen.”
As for any regrets, he said he doesn’t have any, adding, “Because we did the right thing.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Rhodes was spotted at a Dunkin’ Donuts in the Longworth House office building near the Capitol.
The persecution of Jan. 6 destroyed the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as federal agents across the country arrested dozens of people from both groups and prosecutors tried and convicted dozens of their members – often with the help of turncoats and informants from within the organizations.
Oath Keepers in particular can be said to be defunct as a viable business. And while the Proud Boys disbanded its national leadership group — known as the Seniors Chapter — under the weight of the January 6 investigation, many of the group’s local chapters are still active.
Indeed, on Inauguration Day, the rank and file Proud Boys turned out in numbers in Washington for the first time since Jan. 6, marching with a banner congratulating Mr. Trump on his return to the White House. Demonstrations of presence on the streets – especially on the streets of Washington – suggested that some within the Proud Boys wanted to make a public show of strength.
Mr. Tarrio, however, was concerned about the team’s future, giving his usual response about the organization.
“I think the future of the club is going to be what it’s always been,” he said, “just a group of men who love America, go around and drink beer and protect Trump supporters from attacks.”
As for his role in the group, he gave the usual winking answer.
“I have a proposal for the mainstream media,” he said. “They should stop calling me the former leader of the Proud Boys.”
Mr. Rhodes was similarly evasive – though perhaps less so.
He said that he did not know what the future of the Swearers would be, and he admitted that “I may just decide to close my ties.”
In any case, he continued, he had other things to think about at the time. When a reporter outside the DC jail asked him what the first thing he planned to do when he got home, his answer was quick and simple.
“I will report to my probation officer,” he said.
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