Washington During combative testimony Thursday in the trial of the former head of intelligence for the Metropolitan Police Department in the nation’s capital, former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, who is currently serving 22 years in prison on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, sparred with a federal prosecutor and a judge and refused to answer questions about the attack.
Tarrio, who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison, testified on behalf of the defense during Shane Lamond’s trial. Lamond is accused of informing Tarrio that he had an arrest warrant out for him due to a previous incident while Tarrio was traveling to Washington before the attack. When Lamond arrived in Washington on January 4, 2021, he was arrested for a separate incident involving the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner during Tarrio’s previous visit to the city. Lamond was indicted last year on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements to law enforcement regarding his communications with Tarrio.
According to the prosecution, Lamond turned become a double agent for the far-right. According to FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Hadley’s testimony on Tuesday, Lamond had misled his fellow law enforcement officers about his relationship with Lamond. Shortly before the Jan. 6 attack, he wrote in a message that he had met Tarrio in July 2019 and had only spoken to him five or six times. Records actually reveal that Lamond and Tarrio exchanged over 432 messages over an encrypted network, shared at least 24 calls lasting more than a minute, and 15 calls lasting less than a minute.
According to the story Tarrio told on the stand on Thursday, he was lying to his fellow Proud Boys about his conversations with an MPD source at the same time. He claimed that he was making things up in his conversations with other people, even though he was actually messaging MPD’s Lamond on an encrypted platform at the time. Tarrio claimed he intended to be arrested in order to bring attention to himself and the Proud Boys since he was aware that the burning of the Black Lives Matter flag was being investigated.
Tarrio claimed he anticipated he would be released on January 5 and be able to attend the pro-Trump events during the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, so he booked his travel to Washington on January 4 knowing that the city does not have bail.
Tarrio stated that he was certain of getting arrested for burning the banner and that he intended to appear at a police station and report himself in. He also claimed that he knew he was being investigated since Miami police had contacted him. Rather, Tarrio was detained after he claimed to have clocked a guy he believed to be an undercover police officer who was pursuing him when he arrived at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, which is just outside of the District, while riding in an Uber at the airport.
Tarrio remarked, “I can’t tell you I wanted to go to DC to get arrested, that sounds weird,” but he clarified that he intended to put up a circus tent and use it as a “marketing ploy” in order to get this situation resolved.
Tarrio claimed to have “messaged a million people on the plane,” but he added that “that one right there” was not Lamond.
“I can say with 100 percent certainty, Shane Lamond did not tell me anything on that plane,” Tarrio stated.
Prosecutors, however, revealed a documentary film in which Tarrio described how “he texted me in the air” after learning that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Tarrio claimed he was “pretty sure” he “sent a message to various places” during the flight after watching the footage.
Tarrio stated that he did not “want to be in jail any longer” and that lying to his fellow Proud Boys as a marketing gimmick was not the same as lying on the stand, under oath, when asked how people could believe that he was telling the truth now that he had admitted lying to members of his own organization. Holding the former Proud Boys chairman in contempt would not likely have much of a deterrence impact given Tarrio’s punishment.
Tarrio was wearing a green jumpsuit from a local Alexandria, Virginia, jail and is currently being held by the U.S. Marshals until he is returned to the federal Bureau of Prisons. The location of Tarrio at the time of the interview was unclear, but on Wednesday, a far-right website that regularly features interviews and links to crowdfunding websites for Jan. 6 defendants posted an interview with Tarrio.
Tarrio denied on multiple occasions that he had personally confessed to Lamond or any MPD officer to being involved in the burning of the BLM banner. Nonetheless, he made a confession on his Parlor account and podcast. In his testimony, Tarrio denied that it was a hate crime, saying, “I confessed and challenged law enforcement to come and arrest me.” Tarrio reportedly claimed to have sent Lamond an image of his Parlor post, stating that he had a similar relationship with police enforcement in other places and that interacting with them was essential to his goal of keeping his fellow Proud Boys safe.
Tarrio, who claimed to have partied too much the night before and missed his first trip to Washington, DC, on January 4, claimed to have spoken with Lamond several times regarding his flight arrangements. Tarrio testified that I thought it was strange that he continued asking me the same question.
Although Tarrio testified that Lamond was not a member of the Proud Boys, he was unable to recall if Lamond had mentioned his support for the group. Tarrio stated, “I don’t know if he did or didn’t,” despite the fact that prosecutors produced a post-attack communication that Lamond reportedly composed. I can’t say it formally, of course, but I personally stand by you guys and don’t want your group’s name or reputation to be tarnished.”
Tarrio declined to verify the veracity of messages prosecutors said were sent between him and Lamond when he was questioned by the prosecution.
Tarrio stated, “I really don’t want to be an a-hole about this,” before adding that he didn’t trust prosecutors to provide reliable evidence and that he would never double-check what was displayed on screen. Tarrio added that he will not discuss the Proud Boys’ visit to Washington on January 6.
“Oh,” replied Judge Amy Berman Jackson, “you will hear.” After that, Tarrio declared that he would exercise his Fifth Amendment rights. “I’m not responding to anything regarding January 6; it’s simply not taking place,” he stated.
Jackson said, “You don’t get to pick and choose,” as she gave him the order to respond to every question. Tarrio claimed to have a “pending appeal,” but Jackson countered that she, not Tarrio, should decide whether questions are pertinent.
Tarrio smirked and replied, “We’ll agree to disagree.”
Jackson remarked, “You’re not in charge,” before summoning defense attorneys and prosecutors to the bench to talk about how to proceed with his testimony.
Tarrio later acknowledged his conviction for seditious conspiracy and acknowledged that he was certain the Proud Boys were in Washington, DC.
Tarrio claimed that he and Lamond did not talk about their personal lives when they met for beers at The Dubliner, which is close to Union Station, in December 2020. He also claimed that he was more concerned with security during protests the following month because Proud Boys members had been stabbed than with the banner’s burning.
“Three of my guys getting stabbed was more important than the banner,” Tarrio added. He said that the days were extremely stressful and that his anxiety had reached its peak due to his inability to manage the throng. He stated that because the Proud Boys had many new members since the election who were rowdy, he desired a smaller group for the inauguration.
At 1 p.m. on Friday, Lamond is scheduled to testify in his own defense.
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