While the idea of deflecting the blame for January 6th, 2021 has long been a staple of the current court cases surrounding the incident, the concept hasn’t gotten much play with the judicial system.
No, most defendants who’ve attempted to suggest that then-President Donald Trump bears responsibility for the violence that occurred that day have been rebuked, heartily, by the judges in the individual cases.
Surely the same will be true for Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
Former President Donald Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a lawyer representing Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio argued in a high-profile trial on Thursday.
“Trump told these people that the election was stolen. Trump told them to go there on January 6,” attorney Sabino Jauregui told jurors in federal district court in Washington, DC during his opening statement. “And it was Trump, with his speech on January 6, that unleashed this mob on the Capitol.”
The Justice Department has charged Tarrio with seditious conspiracy, alleging that under his leadership, members of the Proud Boys stormed the Capitol on January 6 to stop Congress from certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Tarrio is on trial along with four other Proud Boys members: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola, each of whom have pleaded not guilty.
And…
Tarrio’s lawyer noted the line in court on Thursday, saying Trump was “the one that told them march over to the Capitol and fight like hell.”
“Enrique didn’t say that,” Jauregui told jurors. “Enrique didn’t say anything to anybody on the grounds of the Capitol on January 6, but he just happens to be the leader of the Proud Boys.”
Trump had specifically and explicitly told protesters to “peacefully” conduct themselves on the day of the Capitol riot, and has been acquitted of “inciting” the event by the Senate during his second impeachment trial.
