Listen i agree .........nothing more i can say ....... he has said it all!!!!!!! .......pure and simple .....the very words i would have said ........ jan 6th rioters were not...........they were set up by the demonrats .......thank you donald ........
Proud Boys' Enrique Tarrio tells all: Wants accusers to 'feel the heat', weighs sheriff run
MIAMI ― In an exclusive sit-down interview at his home in Miami, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former − and possibly current − leader of the Proud Boys told USA TODAY he plans to keep influencing the group and said it will continue to have a role in politics moving forward.
Tarrio, who was less than two years into a 22-year federal prison sentence for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol when President Donald Trump pardoned him on Monday, returned home to Miami on Wednesday and sat down with USA TODAY Friday morning.
The former “Chairman” of the Proud Boys struck a more cautious and less rambunctious tone than in the past in his first interview with a major news organization since his release. He acknowledged that some Jan. 6 rioters attacked police and deserved prosecution, said the Proud Boys have been unfairly miscast as a hate group, and tamped down statements he made on a podcast earlier this week when he called for “retribution” against the people who put him and other Jan. 6 rioters behind bars.
“When I say ‘Feel the heat,’ I want to be clear that I want investigations,” Tarrio said.
Asked what he and the Proud Boys would do to bring “retribution” against those who prosecuted them, if those investigations don’t reveal anything, Tarrio said he would not press the issue further.
“In the case that nothing’s found, I’ll move on to the next thing,” he said.
Tarrio, who said he hasn’t spoken with President Donald Trump either before or since his release, was not at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors nevertheless cast him as the mastermind of the attack. In the interview, Tarrio maintained his long-stated claim that the insurrection was not organized or planned beforehand.
Prosecutors presented evidence saying Tarrio created a special wing of the Proud Boys called the “Ministry of Self Defense,” which coordinated attacks on the day and celebrated them afterward. “Make no mistake ... we did this,” Tarrio wrote at one point to the group.
On Friday, he cast himself as a victim of a corrupt system that sought to quash freedom of speech and suppress opponents of the political class.
More: Trump freed Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders. What's next here? | The Excerpt
‘We’re not white supremacists’
Tarrio said it was a mistake to label him as the “former” chairman of the Proud Boys. He said the organization no longer publicly discusses its leadership, but he claimed he has the support of a majority of the Proud Boys.
“I think right now, probably I get along with 60% of my guys,” he said.
The Proud Boys espouse a political ideology of free speech and nationalism, expressed through offensive language, controversial memes and images. A 2021 USA TODAY investigation of the Wisconsin chapter of the group revealed racism and antisemitism, where moving up within the group was dependent on bullying potential members and promoting white supremacist talking points.
Tarrio said individual chapters of the Proud Boys remain largely autonomous and stressed that they are not under the full control of the national leadership. He acknowledged that white supremacists and other far-right extremists have flocked to the Proud Boys brand, but said that is because the group has been miscast by the media.
“We’re not white supremacists, we’re not Nazis, we’re not anti-semitic,” Tarrio said. “There is no group I do not insult or make a joke about.”
The Proud Boys have been less visible on America’s streets in the four years since the Capitol riot, for which dozens of members of the group were prosecuted, jailed, and now released. Sporadic groups of men wearing the signature black-and-gold Proud Boys colors have shown up everywhere from all-age drag shows to local school board meetings.
‘I’m an equal opportunity offender’
But Tarrio, who describes his heritage as “afro-Cuban,” insisted that the LGBTQ+ community and minorities have nothing to fear from the Proud Boys moving forward.
“I think that probably they should join their local chapter,” he said of members of those groups. “I don’t think that that fear is based on reality. We’ve never targeted specific groups because of their color, sexual orientation or whatnot.”
“I’m an equal opportunity offender,” he said.