Proud Boys Aimed To Take Over Supreme Court, Other Government Buildings On Jan. 6
Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, had plans on Jan. 6, 2021, to take over and occupy government buildings across Washington, D.C., including the Supreme Court, court documents revealed Thursday.
A lawyer for Proud Boys member Zachary Rehl, who was indicted on charges of seditious conspiracy in early June, submitted a nine-page document that detailed these plans.
Titled "1776 Returns," the document laid out how members of the Proud Boys planned in advance to occupy buildings across the capital. According to the document, Proud Boys members plotted how they would take over the Supreme Court, buildings belonging to the House and Senate, and the district’s CNN building.
In a section titled “Manpower Needs,” the plan envisioned members playing a series of roles to execute their plot.
A designated "covert sleeper" would arrive in advance at a target and "spend the day" as a Proud Boy insider with a backup sleeper on standby. The document called for “leads and seconds” to scope out entrances and exits on Jan. 6 and encouraged them to use COVID-19 protocols like masks or face shields to achieve their undercover objective.
Outside a building, the Proud Boys had designated members for riling up a crowd, a recruiter to gather more potential occupiers and "patriots" who would share more details of their "patriot plan."
Participants were also tasked with distracting any guards, "causing trouble" at an entrance, and disrupting traffic to prevent any interference from law enforcement.
These revelations come amid an ongoing prosecution of over 800 participants in the Capitol Riot, as well as live testimony from a congressional select committee investigating the attack.
Members of the Proud Boys have been among those arrested on conspiracy charges for their involvement in the Capitol Riot by the FBI. On June 6, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio alongside four others were indicted on seditious conspiracy charges over their involvement with the riot.
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