Proud Boys On Trial For Jan. 6 Plan to Subpoena Donald Trump as Trial Witness
Donald Trump could very well end up on the receiving end of a subpoena from the leaders of the Proud Boys whose lawyers plan to try and force the former president to testify at their ongoing trial related to the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Whether or not the subpoena will indeed be issued is ultimately up to U.S. District Court Judge Tim Kelly, who Politico’s Kyle Cheney noted has not indicated either way if he will allow it.
On Thursday, Cheney explained that the odds of Trump testifying seem “remote,” but noted that of all those charged for their actions surrounding Jan. 6th, the “Proud Boys may have the clearest case” for subpoenaing the former president.
“We’re going to ask the government for assistance in serving Mr. Trump,” said Norm Pattis, who is defending one of the Proud Boys currently on trial for seditious conspiracy.
The former leader of the neo-fascist, male chauvinist group, Enrique Tarrio, alongside four other members is facing charges related to the group’s violent plot to stop the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election and keep Trump in office.
Cheney detailed some of the trial so far, noting that “prosecutors have underscored the group’s repeated responses to Trump’s public statements — from his Sept. 2020 debate-stage exhortation to the group to ‘stand back and stand by’ to his Dec. 19, 2020 tweet urging supporters to attend his Jan. 6 rally. ‘Be there. Will be wild,’ he wrote.”
Cheney adds that “given Trump’s explicit reference to the group during the debate and the group’s centrality to the riot that unfolded on Jan. 6” the Proud Boys’ attorneys may be able to convince the judge of the relevance of Trump’s testimony.
In April 2022, Dustin Thompson, “an unemployed exterminator from Ohio, was the first defendant tried in the Capitol attack to offer a Trump-made-me-do-it defense before a jury,” noted the New York Times.
“If the president’s giving you almost an order to do something,” Thompson said in court, “I felt obligated to do that.” Thompson referred specifically to Trump’s calls for his supporters to come to Washington, DC and “fight like hell” to stop the election from being stolen.
Cheney reported on the case being made against the Proud Boys:
Prosecutors say the Proud Boys are singularly responsible for the violence that unfolded, helping trigger key breaches of police defenses — including the actual breach of the building itself, when Dominic Pezzola, one of the five defendants, used a stolen riot shield to smash a Senate-wing window.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in late November 2022 for his role in the events surrounding Jan. 6th. Whether or not Trump testifying at the Proud Boys’s trial could prevent a similar verdict from being handed down is unclear, but would not doubt make for historic courtroom drama.
