Witness: Proud Boys expected ‘civil war’ to break out after 2020 election results

WASHINGTON (AP) – A month before the U.S. Capitol riots, members of the Proud Boys were increasingly angry at the outcome of the 2020 election and expected a “civil war,” a former member told a jury on Tuesday as he took a stand in a mutinous vote. conspiracy case against former gang leader.

Matthew Green testified in a case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants under a cooperation agreement with the government after pleading guilty to storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021 with other extremists.

Green told jurors that the Proud Boys’ conversations had gotten more heated as December 2020 wore on, and the challenge to President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat was unsuccessful. The Proud Boys were becoming “prepared for whatever was to come,” Green said, adding that the group considered itself “essentially the tip of a spear.”

“At that point, we were openly expecting a civil war,” Greene said.

Green is the first Proud Boys employee to take a stand in the case accusing Tarrio and his co-conspirators of conspiring to forcibly end the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden. He was the first Proud Boys member in December 2021 to publicly plead guilty to conspiring with others to prevent Congress from certifying an Electoral College vote. He is cooperating with the prosecutor’s office in the hope of commuting the sentence.

Prosecutors allege members of the Proud Boys carried out a coordinated attack on the Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Trump in power. This is one of the most important cases stemming from the protracted DOJ investigation on January 6th.

The other defendants are Joseph Biggs of Ormond Beach, Florida, the self-proclaimed organizer of the Proud Boys; Zachary Rehl, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys; and Dominic Pezzola of the Proud Boys of Rochester, New York.

Defense lawyers say there is no evidence that the Proud Boys planned to attack the Capitol and prevent Congress from certifying the January 6 Electoral College vote. Lawyer Tarrio acknowledged that the former chairman and other self-described “Western chauvinists” at the Proud Boys shared “offensive” messages, but said it was Trump who provoked the mob that attacked the Capitol.

Green, who was new to the Proud Boys on January 6 and says he has since left the group, said he was not aware of any specific plan to storm the Capitol. He said leaders did not openly call on members to use force, but when it did, it was welcome.

“I expected that if violence starts, you should not back down,” he said.

Miami-based Tarrio was not in Washington on Jan. 6 because he was arrested two days before the riot and charged with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic black church during a December 2020 protest. He was ordered to leave. capital, but prosecutors say he continued to be involved in planning an extremist group for January 6th.

Others who may testify against Tarrio include Jeremy Bertino, the only proud boy to plead guilty to the rebel conspiracy. The wrongdoing filing filed in court says that Bertino understood that the purpose of the Proud Boys’ trip to Washington was to stop Biden’s victory certification, and that the group was prepared to use force and violence to do so if necessary.

Green’s testimony comes a day after four members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of sedition in a separate case at the same Washington courthouse. The leader of the group and another Oathkeeper were convicted of sedition in November.

Green traveled from Syracuse, New York to Washington with the other Proud Boys on January 5 and was ahead of the crowd on January 6 when police began using pepper spray and other crowd control measures.

One of them was Pezzola, who is accused of tearing a police shield from a police officer and then breaking the window of the Capitol. Green was with him around the time it happened, but shortly after he changed his mind and turned around, he testified. He did not see Pezzola again until much later that day.