Former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio jailed for 22 years for US Capitol riot

ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore has the latest as former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating his far-right extremist group’s attack on the US Capitol on January 6

Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio has been jailed for 22 years for plotting the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

The sentence is by far the longest one given to anyone linked with the attack on January 6 2021.

Tarrio ultimately failed in his bid to stop the transfer of presidential power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

He was the final Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in the attack to be sentenced.

Three other Proud Boys have been found guilty of sedition charges and were sentenced last week to prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years.

The US Justice Department described Tarrio as the ringleader of a plot to overturn the election victory by Joe Biden despite not being in Washington on January 6.

He had been arrested two days earlier in a separate case - but prosecutors say he helped put in motion and encourage the violence.

Tarrio, who has been jailed since his arrest in March 2022, appeared in court in an orange jail uniform.

"Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6," prosecutors wrote in court documents.

Ethan Nordean, who prosecutors said was the Proud Boys' leader on the ground on the day of the attack, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, previously tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy in a separate case, was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison.

Prosecutors, who had sought 25 years for Rhodes, are appealing his sentence and the punishments of other members of his antigovernment militia group.

Lawyers for the Proud Boys deny that there was any plot to attack the Capitol or stop the transfer of presidential power.

Tarrio's lawyer, Sabino Jauregui, told the judge that his client had no intentions of overthrowing the government, and that the Proud Boys' only plans that day were to protest the election and confront left-wing antifa activists.

Jauregui said: "My client is no terrorist. My client is a misguided patriot."

Watch Robert Moore's report from Washington DC on January 6 in full

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington on January 4, 2021, on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner, during an earlier rally in the nation's capital, but law enforcement officials later said he was arrested in part over concerns about the potential for unrest during Biden's certification.

On January 6, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol.

The mob's assault overwhelmed police, forced lawmakers to flee the House and Senate floors, and disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying the incument president's victory.

The backbone of the government's case was hundreds of messages exchanged by Proud Boys in the days leading up to the Captil attack.

As Proud Boys swarmed the Capitol, Tarrio cheered them on from afar, writing on social media: "Do what must be done."

In a Proud Boys encrypted group chat later that day someone asked what they should do next. Tarrio responded: "Do it again."

He wrote in an Instagram post: "Make no mistake. We did this."

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