![]() Tarrio, Nordean and two other Proud Boys leaders were convicted in May of seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a violent plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election. Enrique Tarrio, who was the Proud Boys’ national chairman, texted with Jones three times and Shroyer five times during the riot, and Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean exchanged 23 text messages with Shroyer in the two days before Jan. 6 riot, according to the House committee that investigated the attack. Phone records showed that leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group were in contact with Jones and Shroyer before and during the Jan. Jones up several steps and stood near him as he addressed the crowd from a bullhorn urging them to leave the area and behave peacefully,” Shroyer said. Shroyer said in an affidavit that he accompanied Jones and his security detail to Capitol grounds on Jan. “Are we just going to sit here and become activists for four years or are we going to actually do something about this, whatever that cause or course of cause may be?” he added, according to prosecutors. Shroyer’s attorney has accused prosecutors of trampling on Shroyer’s constitutional rights to “protest, speak freely and report the news.” Defense attorney Norm Pattis said Shroyer attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally as a journalist who intended to cover the event for his Infowars show. Shroyer, who was charged in August 2021 with four misdemeanor counts, is among a few defendants who neither went inside the Capitol nor were accused of engaging in violence or destruction. 6, disrupting a joint session of Congress for certifying the 2020 presidential election victory by Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, a Republican. Hundreds of people have been charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. He was the top Republican lawyer with the House Energy and Commerce committee, which a decade ago led the investigation into Obama administration loans to failed solar panel maker Solyndra.Near the top of steps on the Capitol’s east side, Shroyer, who’s from Austin, Texas, led hundreds of rioters in chants of “USA!” and “1776!” He later said in an affidavit that he stood with Jones as Jones tried to deescalate the situation.īut, prosecutors wrote in a court filing, “Harkening to the last time Americans overthrew their government in a revolution while standing on the Capitol steps where elected representatives are certifying a Presidential Election you disagree with does not qualify as deescalation.” "The right-wing ecosystem has enough horsepower that even nonsense can get traction," said Schultz, explaining the value of a robust response.Īnd as much as the White House would like to blow off the investigations, they actually do need to cooperate, said James Barnette, a partner with law firm Steptoe and Johnson. "If there are hints of corruption or scandal or impropriety, that will undermine the president's ability to stay in the good graces of the electorate," said Schultz, who said he is a bit jealous Biden has air cover from outside groups that Obama didn't have. That's why a robust response is necessary, said Eric Schultz, who was part of the team that the Obama White House put together to respond to investigations that became household names like Benghazi, Fast and Furious and Solyndra. ![]() The investigations carry real risks for Biden ahead of 2024Įven though the White House is currently batting off House investigations, there are real political risks at play, particularly as a likely reelection campaign draws closer. With a poster of a New York Post front page about Hunter Biden on display, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. The White House bet is that Republicans will take things too far and turn off voters. The White House strategy is to reinforce that whenever possible. Polls indicate many Americans are skeptical of these investigations. Meanwhile, his team has been eager to undercut the investigations by sharing clips that they feel show Republicans overreaching, such as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer predicting on Fox News that his plan to investigate "influence peddling" in the Biden family would keep Biden from seeking reelection. The White House posture is to let Biden stay above the fray, talking about his administration's accomplishments and goals. They are using the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees to stage political stunts to attack on the border, while suggesting a plan that would be a total disaster. Why is threatening to defund border security?
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