A federal judge on Friday dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against several Proud Boys members, granting a request from the Trump administration and undoing one of the Biden administration’s most celebrated victories against those who it said inspired the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
Background
US District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, begrudgingly agreed to drop the case against the four members, saying he “lacks the authority to compel the Executive to pursue a prosecution, full stop.” The decision erases some of the most serious convictions from the sprawling investigation of the US Capitol breach, one of the largest federal investigations in US history.
The Trump administration sought to “treat this case essentially the same way it has all January 6 cases, without regard for the seriousness of the conduct at issue or even whether the case was initiated after President Biden took office or, like this one, while President Trump was still in power.” The judge noted that the decisions to issue the Executive Order and to abandon this prosecution are solely the Executive’s.
Reaction
Zachary Rehl, one of the Proud Boys members, celebrated the dismissal in a post on X, saying, “Finally, it’s all over! January 6th can now be a thing of the past for me!” Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the group who had also been pardoned by Trump, was also quick to boast on X Friday night: “Justice is served! Proud Boys don’t lose. We win. This is our victory.”
Trump has long lambasted the January 6 prosecutions as an injustice against his supporters, even referring to those in jail as “hostages.” The president has repeatedly called January 6, 2021, “a day of love and peace” and claimed his supporters posed “zero threat.”
The judge, calling the January 6 protests “a perilous event,” said it was “an attack on people, including police officers, many of whom were injured. It was an attack on a coordinate branch of government—Congress—that the Founders saw fit to give a place of primacy in Article I of the Constitution.”
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
