MIAMI – Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who returned to Miami after being pardoned by President Trump, announced Friday that he plans to sue the Department of Justice over his arrest, conviction and treatment in custody following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
“In prison, they treated me like a terrorist, and I’m not a terrorist,” said Tarrio, who addressed the media in Doral.
Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys
Tarrio, 42, a Miami native, was serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Despite not being physically present at the Capitol during the riot, Tarrio was found guilty of playing a central role in orchestrating the events from outside Washington, D.C.
After the 2020 presidential election, according to evidence presented at trial, Tarrio began posting on social media and in message groups about a “civil war,” later threatening, “No Trump…No peace. No Quarter.” And as Jan. 6 approached, he posted about “revolt.”
He used his outsized influence “to condone and promote violence” in others, prosecutors wrote, adding, “He was a general rather than a soldier.”
His co-defendants — Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl — gathered with other Proud Boys members on the day of the riot and marched toward the Capitol, interfering with police and ultimately forcing entry into the building where Congress was attempting to certify President Biden’s victory.
“Make no mistake, we did this,” Tarrio wrote on social media during the riot, according to trial evidence.
Nordean was sentenced to 18 years, while others received terms of between 10 and 17 years. Pezzola was the only co-defendant to not be convicted of the most severe charge of seditious conspiracy at trial, but he was found guilty of using a stolen police riot shield to break a Capitol window.
“You call us white supremacists, you call us Nazis”
On Friday, Tarrio argued that many people were arrested for things that he claimed they didn’t do during the Capitol riot. He partially blamed the press for that.
“When you report inaccurately, or call us fascists, or you call us white supremacists, or you call us Nazis, every time you do that it dehumanizes us and it makes it easier for us to be persecuted like we have been,” he said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the Proud Boys as a hate group, describing them as an “alt-right fight club” that uses certain forms of language, arguments, or tactics to make their intentions seem less extreme or more acceptable than they really are.
When asked if he celebrated the events that took place at the Capitol four years ago, Tarrio replied: “Absolutely.”
“I celebrated like half of America did. I turn on the TV and I see a bunch of protestors at the Capitol, I didn’t think that they broke into the building. I can’t take credit for something I didn’t do. After seeing what they did to me and others, I’m definitely not going to condemn what happened at the Capitol,” he said.
However, Tarrio said he did not condone the violence against the officers at the Capitol that day.
“Those officers shouldn’t have lost their lives,” he said. Tarrio said those who put their hands on the officers should have been charged, but claimed the process was flawed.
“The problem is on these cases is the miscarriage of justice and how and how it was performed in these cases in (Washington) D.C. We start with the D.C. juries. It’s not only fair for the defendants, it’s not fair for the jurors, for a person that knows that they are biased and they still get sat,” he said.
Over the course of four months, that Washington, D.C. jury reviewed evidence including 500,000 chat messages, video clips, podcasts and a police riot shield, NPR reported.
“They took my life from me,” Tarrio said. “The Department of Justice took four years of many American lives just for political gains. For a political purpose.”
Tarrio on the Trump pardons
On Monday, his first day back in office, Mr. Trump issued pardons for approximately 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, including Tarrio.
Tarrio was released from a federal holding facility in Louisiana on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and returned to Miami the following day.
He said Mr. Trump did the right thing by issuing pardons for those involved in the Capitol siege.
“I don’t like what happened that day but do those people deserve a pardon? President Trump said he was going to view the nature of these cases on a case-by-case basis and he thoroughly did,” he said.
A job in the Trump administration?
As for what’s next after regaining his freedom, Tarrio said at this point he doesn’t know.
“I don’t know what I want to do yet, I’m just focused on coming home and getting together with my family,” he said.
When asked if he would work with the Trump administration, Tarrio said he doesn’t see that happening.
“I would love to get a job with the Trump administration. Do I think it is realistic? I don’t think so. The president has a lot to do, he’s making a lot of changes,” he said.
Scott MacFarlane and
Robert Legare
contributed to this report.
