Amid the wide-ranging federal effort to uncover the truth surrounding January 6, the FBI has reportedly been investigating a pre-January 6 meeting last year that involved the then-leader of the Proud Boys and the continued leader of the Oath Keepers — violent, far-right groups that were tied to the eventual Capitol violence through the presence there of numerous members. The then-leader of the Proud Boys was Enrique Tarrio, who has not been charged in connection to the riot but recently concluded a stint in jail over his part in burning a stolen Black Lives Matter banner and his illegal transport into D.C. of rifle magazines. The Oath Keepers leader is Stewart Rhodes — who, along with nearly a dozen other members of his organization, has since been charged with seditious conspiracy related to the riot.
Senator McConnell acknowledging that Jan 6 was a violent insurrection was the right move. But it's literally the bare minimum. He killed an independent commission to investigate the insurrection and voted to let Trump off the hook for inciting it. Actions speak louder than words.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 9, 2022
The meeting took place in a parking garage in downtown Washington, D.C., and other individuals involved in far-right activities were also present. “Three attendees or their representatives contacted by Reuters say they did not discuss matters related to January 6,” that publication states — although that’s obviously the sort of thing that investigators might want to verify. In the lead-up to January 6, Rhodes spent tens of thousands of dollars on various forms of weaponry, some of which went to a cache that the Oath Keepers set up in the vicinity of D.C. for the potential usage of people in the city around January 6. Others who were at that informal gathering include Bianca Gracia — a leader in pro-Trump advocacy among Latino communities — and Oath Keepers lawyer Kellye SoRelle, the latter of whom “told Reuters she was invited by Gracia to meet Tarrio and share information about criminal defense attorneys,” the outlet says. Tarrio needed a defense attorney because of the criminal case that led to his jail-time.
Donald J. Trump https://t.co/wPkBAGI0mY
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) February 8, 2022
Notably, the House committee investigating the Capitol riot has subpoenaed phone records of Amy Harris, a photographer who was (among other things) there with Tarrio at the pre-January 6 get-together. Harris has since brought a lawsuit in an attempt to block that subpoena, although her own lawsuit states that her “work documenting Tarrio throughout the remainder of 2020 earned her Tarrio’s trust as a journalist and, accordingly, the trust of the members of his group.” Tarrio has downplayed his interactions with Rhodes, saying that “by coincidence, he was inside… that parking garage,” adding that his thinking basically amounted to “he’s here, I’m not going to not shake somebody’s hand.”
Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, told me that the RNC censure resolution didn’t come up in conference meeting today — likely because a lot of people were “embarrassed” by it.
“It was pretty damn embarrassing,” he said.
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) February 8, 2022
Notably, Capitol rioter and Oath Keepers member Kelly Meggs said before January 6 that he “organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys” — so no matter denials of substantial coordination between these particular riot-involved groups, there definitely appears to have been a push to connect in some form or another. (The Three Percenters are another far-right group.) Check out more here.
In the weeks after the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani and other legal advisers to President Donald Trump asked a Republican prosecutor in northern Michigan to get his county’s voting machines and pass them to Trump’s team, the prosecutor told The Post. https://t.co/Dccepn5gVD
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 9, 2022
