The presence of government informants in the far-right group has repeatedly come up in the lengthy trial, raising fresh questions about intelligence failures in the days before the riot. His testimony comes as the defense attorneys try to undermine prosecutors' claim that the Proud Boys plotted to attack the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory during a joint session on Jan. The handler's response was redacted from a screenshot that a defense attorney showed to jurors. Pezzola was a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.Ĭopyright 2023 The Associated Press. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia.
Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter leader. Federal authorities haven’t publicly released much information about their use of informants in investigating the Proud Boys’ role in a mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. Law enforcement routinely uses informants in criminal investigations, but their methods and identities can be closely guarded secrets. 6.įBI Agent Nicole Miller testified last week that she was aware of two informants in the Proud Boys, including one who marched on the Capital on Jan. Defense attorneys have repeatedly pushed to get more information about informants in the far-right extremist group as they try to undermine the notion that the group had a plan to attack the Capital on Jan. It’s not the first time the government’s use of informants has become an issue in the case. Capitol and their families, including by assisting in fundraising efforts and protesting against their conditions of confinement,” prosecutors wrote. Prosecutors said the FBI was “generally aware” that the informant was “active in assisting defendants charged with crimes related to the Januattack on the U.S. Tarrio, a Miami resident, served as national chairman for the far-right extremist group, whose members describe it as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” He and the other Proud Boys could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Tarrio, Rehl and three other Proud Boys - Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola - are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors allege was a plot to block the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Biden after the 2020 election.
6 attack that halted Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, sent lawmakers running and left dozens of police officers injured. It’s the latest twist in the trial, which is one of the most serious to emerge from the Jan. They called suggestions of government misconduct “baseless.” The government only found out from the defense team that the informant had been communicating with the defense and had participated in “prayer meetings” with relatives of at least one of the Proud Boys on trial, prosecutors said.
#PROUD BOYS INFORMANT TRIAL#
District Judge Timothy Kelly said there’s no clear evidence of wrongdoing by the government and allowed the trial to continue Friday, but is also set to hear additional arguments about how deeply enmeshed the informant was with the case. The FBI ended its relationship with the informant this past January after it learned that the person had received a subpoena to testify, an agent said in an affidavit filed in court. WASHINGTON (AP) - As revelations that a defense witness was also an FBI informant roil the already contentious Capitol riot trial of members of the far-right Proud Boys group, prosecutors said Thursday that the informant was never told to gather information about the defendants or their lawyers.
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