Proud Boys’ Lawyers Plan To Subpoena Donald Trump In Sedition Trial, Reports Say

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Lawyers representing members of the Proud Boys—a far-right group accused of leading the charge on the Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to stop the transfer of power to Joe Biden—plan to subpoena former President Donald Trump to appear as a witness in their trial on seditious conspiracy charges, multiple news outlets reported Thursday.

Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio attends a rally in Portland, Oregon, August 17, 2019.

Noah Berger/AP

Key Facts

While it’s unclear if Trump would actually take the stand, Norm Pattis, an attorney for one of the five Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy, told Forbes, “Trump called on the American people to stop the steal. We are calling on Trump to take a stand. Do it, Donald.”

From Politico, “We’re going to ask the government for assistance in serving Mr. Trump.”

Throughout the trial, which began last month in Washington, prosecutors have tried to tie Trump’s public statements, including his September 2020 debate comments advising the radical group to “Stand back and stand by,” to the actions of the Proud Boys.

The subpoena would need the approval of Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who is overseeing the case.

Key Background

Prosecutors are accusing several members of the Proud Boys of organizing a violent plan to keep Trump in office by preventing Congress from certifying the results of the election on January 6, 2021. The Justice Department said the Proud Boys “directed, mobilized and led” the mob into the Capitol on January 6, which led to destruction of property, the breach of the Capitol building and assaults on law enforcement. Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio—who was not in Washington, D.C., on the day of the riot—and his co-defendants later claimed credit for the attack in an encrypted chat room on social media, the Justice Department said. The Proud Boys are an all-male group self-described as “Western chauvinists” who, despite denying links to extremism, have repeatedly spouted white nationalist rhetoric. The group has also been tied to street brawls with left-leaning protestors. In 2017, one of its members, Jason Kessler, helped organize the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which turned violent when a self-identified white supremacist deliberately drove into a group of people, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

Tangent

On Wednesday, evidence presented in the trial exposed a D.C. police lieutenant’s involvement in the events of January 6. Metropolitan Police Lt. Shane Lamond warned Tarrio that a warrant had been signed for his arrest before his arrest, multiple outlets reported. The evidence suggests that Lamond informed Tarrio about the police department’s investigation into the Proud Boys, USA Today reported.

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