‘Why are they making a big show of this?’ Gavin McInnes, other Proud Boys cry over Tarrio arrest

We knew ol’ Henry was going to get snatched up for Jan. 6 at some point. Seriously, it looks like it makes one a fifth degree Proud Boy to get one’s ass locked up!

MIAMI, FL – As the onetime leader of the neo-fascist Proud Boys was taken out of him home by police yesterday early morning and arrested on charges of conspiracy stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, his fellow Proud Boys, including the organization’s founder, took to social media in his defense, mostly with spins and distortions of the situation.

Henry “Enriquie” Tarrio, 38 wasn’t even free for two months after his last prison stay for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a D.C. church in Dec. 2020 when police arrived at his home and this morning and brought him out in his underwear and arrested him. While he did not participate in the insurrection due to his arrest for the church incident, text messages, posts on social media and a secret meeting with the leader of the Oathkeepers the night before in a D.C. parking lot reveal his involvement in orchestrating the events of that day, according to the indictment.

Despite this, other Proud Boys have been on the Telegram social media network to come to his defense by using how he wasn’t there to suggest he was not involved and that there was not there and that the Proud Boys never was part of any planning of an insurrection. “Isn’t it telling that they posted chat logs for Oath Keepers and they haven’t shown you the Proud Boy’s chat logs?  It’s because our guys never mentioned the Capitol, never mentioned the election and never talked about stopping anything that day,” a post from a Proud Boys account read. “It reads like a bunch of guys looking to have a safe trip and a great party.” Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes even suggested that news cameras rolling while Tarrio was arrested suggests that the arrest itself wasn’t real. “Why is the media there? Why are they making a big show of this? Because it’s not a real arrest. It’s for a show trial. Just like Roger Stone.”

In the past Stone, a longtime Republican operative who was a close advisor to Donald Trump and was pardoned by him in 2020 after being convicted of lying to Congress about what he and then-candidate Trump knew about Russian efforts to discredit Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign, has in the past been associated with both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and was photographed with Oath Keeper members on the morning of Jan. 6.

In November 2018, McInnes made a public announcement that he was leaving the Proud Boys in an effort to help the cases of a number of their members who were arrested following a fight with antifa outside the Metropolitan Republican Club where McInnis was speaking. McInnes however has been seen at their events and private conferences since that announcement and in January wore what he called “Proud Boy regalia, as an homage to our brothers behind bars.” McInnes recently attended the White Nationalist America First Political Action Conference sponsored by Nick Fuentes that featured a number of elected officials speaking, including Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Proud Boys have been designated a terrorist entity by Canada, McInnes’ home nation, which makes it illegal to knowingly participate in or contribute to, directly or indirectly, any activity of a terrorist group. 

Tarrio, 38, was indicted on one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as two counts each of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and destruction of government property, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. The indictment, which is 30 pages long, also names five Proud Boys as co-defendants—Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Charles Donohoe, Ethan Nordean, and Dominic Pezzola. All were arrested previously. Tarrio, Biggs, Rehl, Donohoe and Nordean have been identified as the leadership of a new Proud Boy chapter that was formed called the Ministry of Self Defense (MOSD), Tarrio describing it as a “national rally planning” chapter that would include only “hand selected members.” They were on hand to organize for Jan. 6.

“As alleged in the indictment, from in or around December 2020, Tarrio and his co-defendants, all of whom were leaders or members of the Ministry of Self Defense, conspired to corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote,” the Dept. of Justice statement read.  “On Jan. 6, the defendants directed, mobilized, and led members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds and into the Capitol, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, and assaults on law enforcement.”

Tarrio was arrested on Jan. 4 in Washington, DC and charged with destruction of property, stemming from the Dec. 12 incident at the church where he and others stole and burned a Black Lives Matter banner from the church building, as well as for possession of two large capacity rifle magazines. Tarrio was released at approximately 5 PM the following day, after having been ordered to leave the District of Columbia. Tarrio however did not immediately comply with the order to leave, travelling to an underground parking garage near the Phoenix Park Hotel where he met with Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers and other individuals for approximately 30 minutes before Tarrio left the District of Columbia and travelled to Baltimore, Maryland.

Last month Rhodes and ten other reputed Oath Keepers members were arrested and accused of conspiring to forcefully oppose the transfer of power between then-President Donald Trump, to his successor, Joe Biden.

The indictment notes several damning texts and posts over the course of a few weeks leading up to the insurrection. One of Tarrio’s contacts for instance, reportedly sent a document calling for their occupation “crucial buildings” in D.C. with as “many people as possible” to “show our politicians We the people are in charge.” The person added that “the revolution is important than anything.” Tarrio allegedly responded with, “(T)hat’s what every waking moment consists of … I’m not playing games.”