The former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group has directly blamed Donald Trump for the violent January 6 attacks on the US Capitol.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is on trial for allegedly organising a small group of Proud Boys to lead the storming of the US Capitol Building to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over Mr Trump.
His lawyer, Nayib Hassan, during his closing argument on Tuesday, cited Mr Trump’s “fight like hell” cry at a rally in the hours before his supporters attacked the building with lawmakers inside.
“It was Donald Trump’s words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6 in your amazing and beautiful city,” Mr Hassan said.
“They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power.”
Prosecutors for the Justice Department have told a jury in Washington DC at the seditious conspiracy trial that the Proud Boys were part of a “fighting force lining up behind Donald Trump and ready to commit violence on his behalf.”
Mr Tarrio and his fellow defendants Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola, Zachary Rehl, and Joseph Biggs, have argued that they never had any agreement to storm the Capitol and that there is no evidence proving that.
Mr Hassan said that his client was in a Baltimore hotel room on 6 January 2021 and was “an entertainer, a lover and a razzle dazzler” not the leader of a plot.
Mr Tarrio was arrested two days before January 6 on suspicion of burning a Washington DC church’s Black Lives Matter flag during a December protest. A judge ordered Mr Tarrio to leave Washington after his arrest.
Prosecutors say that before he was taken into custody, Mr Tarrio told one of the other defendants that “whatever happens” their group should “make it a spectacle.”
And after the riot, he allegedly messaged other Proud Boys leaders and told them, “Make no mistake … we did this.”
