US prosecutors and defense attorneys released six videos of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes meeting just 24 hours before the Jan 6. insurrection, per The Washington Post. The footage was captured by a documentary team following the Proud Boys and begins after Tarrio is released from DC jail.
Tarrio had been detained by DC police moments before the footage began for stealing a Black Lives Matter banner from a church and setting it on fire. Prosecutors said the footage showed Tarrio meeting with Rhodes in a hotel garage, discussing how to communicate with the Proud Boys during the insurrection because the police kept his laptop and phone. Tarrio also tells Latinos for Trump President Bianca Gracia he was ordered to leave DC immediately ahead of the incident.
More on the video footage from The Washington Post:
He explained he was under court order to leave the city, but intended to stay overnight in Maryland where “a lot of my guys are” before driving home to Miami, confirming, “I got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow.”
In the video on Jan. 5, Gracia insists that Tarrio’s presence is needed the following day and attempts to give him cards on lanyards — “You need to be here tomorrow” — before repeatedly warning that his communications with them must be kept secret from law-enforcement.
In the second group, whose faces were not shown, a woman refers to “the Great Reset” and adds, “I need Trump to do the right thing.” A man who accompanied Rhodes to the meeting responds: “It’s inevitable what’s going to happen. We’ve just got to do it as a team together, strong, hard and fast.”
Tarrio’s lawyers say the video isn’t enough to show a “broader conspiracy” and that there is evidence to support his petition to be released from jail, per CNN. The judge hasn’t ruled on his request yet.
Tarrio, Rhodes and other extremist leaders are expected to go to trial this summer and have all pleaded not guilty to several federal crimes, per CNN.