Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio
has been sentenced to five months
in prison for burning a Black Lives
Matter banner that was stolen from
a black church in Washington DC.
He was also carrying to high
capacity magazines and was arrested
weeks later, now this is according
to the Department of Justice.
Recently we were talking about how
it feels as though some of these
people who engage in these riots,
these right wing militias,
members of the Proud Boys,
they get to just do what they want
with no consequences.
But here we are Enrique Tarrio
facing some pretty
serious consequences.
So CBS News reports that Tarrio
pled guilty to one count of
destruction of property and
one count of attempted possession
of a large capacity ammunition
feeding device in July.
Tarrio said on Monday that
there was no excuse for
his actions adding that he
made a grave mistake that day.
Tarrio who has led the far-right
extremist gang since 2018 pleaded
guilty in July to two misdemeanors.
Federal prosecutors had asked the
judge to give Tarrio three months
in jail, but as I mentioned, he was
sentenced to five months in prison.
Now, to give you a little more
context into what happened and
what got him in trouble in
the first place.
He was not present at the January
six riots in the Capitol,
however the reason why he wasn't
there is because he got in trouble
prior to that taking place.
The flag burning incident occurred
at the Ashbury United Methodist
Methodist Church, a historically
black church on December 12,
after Tarrio and
other Proud Boys attended a pro
Trump rally in Washington
that later led to violent clashes.
He was arrested when he returned to
DC on January 4th, that of course,
that was shortly before
the Capitol insurrection.
And was found with two high
capacity magazines that are banned
under DC strict gun control laws.
And I want to go to a video that
Vise put together that gives
you even more context.
And I think it's actually
fascinating because
there are multiple lawsuits against
the Proud Boys right now that could
bankrupt them.
So I'll get to that video in
just a second,
but Cenk did you want to jump in?.
>> Yeah, I did I wanted to give you
the hypocrisy of this guy.
So here's Tarrio when he's in front
of the judge, and he's trying to
get a reduced sentence, he says,
I'd like to profusely apologize for
my actions.
What I did was wrong,
doesn't seem proud there,
he seems contrived right?.
And then after the sentencing was
over he said, if anyone thinks
putting me in chain is silencing
me, dehumanizing me will keep
me quiet they're wrong.
So you were totally lying in court
about that profuse apology, etc.
He comes out of court and
he's like,
trying to keep me in chains ugh.
Okay so you're as we suspected,
a complete utter liar, and
I'm glad that judge sense that you
are a total liar and a fraud.
And if anything, he tried to give
me an even tougher sentence, and
I liked that he tried that.
Now apparently, this was
the toughest sentence he could give
him, which isn't that much, but
it depends on how you characterize
it, right?
So you burn a random thing in
the street, okay that's bad and
you should get some consequences.
You burn a black churches flag,
that's like a, you could argue is
like a cross burning, you could
argue is terrorizing them, right?
So, five months is all you get okay
fine, but then don't pretend that
you're sorry, everybody knows
you're a goddamn liar right?
And then afterwards
still pretend to you're a tough guy
when you were sniffling in court.
Hey, all you Proud Boys out there,
how'd you like it when he was
begging the judge and
licking the judge's boots to try to
get a lower sentence?.
I'm not proud at all,
I'm so apologetic,
then he comes back out yeah,
I hate black people I get it,
dude we all see your scam.
>> Well what's amazing is that
the Proud Boys now accused of of
being some sort of federal agent
slash informant, because that's
the kind of people they are, right?
Now, the proud boys as a right wing
gang is facing quite a bit of legal
trouble because the churches that
have been impacted by them
are taking them to court.
And so take a look at this Vise
video that puts things in a little
more context.
>> The whole thing started last
December during a so
called Million Maga March
protesting the election results.
It turns out putting million in
your events name doesn't guarantee
turnout which was estimated in
the thousands.
Still, it was a rough day in DC,
there were fights,
four stabbings and
33 arrests, and the Proud Boys were
there in droves.
At least two churches had their
Black Lives Matter
signs pouring down that day.
And videos showed the Proud Boys
doing it, here they are burning
a BLM banner stolen from
Asbury United Methodist, and here
they are outside Metropolitan AMA.
In January,
that 149 year old church filed
a civil lawsuit accusing the group
of committing acts of terror.
And saying the vandalism quote,
amounted to a new and
dangerous chapter in the long and
terrible history of white
supremacist, mob violence
targeting black houses of worship.
Lawsuits have proven successful
against the far-right before
the KKK was ordered to fork over
2.5 million in 2008 to a teenager
who was beaten up by Klan members.
In 20 2019 Andrew Anglin, founder
of the Neo Nazis website, the daily
Stormer got slapped with a $14
million judgment after a Jewish
family accused him of publishing
their personal information online.
>> So, this is important because
that video is specifically
referring to the civil suits that
the Proud Boys are facing.
And that's of course different from
the criminal charges conviction and
now sentence that the leader
of the Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio is
dealing with right?.
And so when I say
that these lawsuits could bankrupt
the Proud Boys, what does that
mean?, like is it a business?.
And the fact of the matter is,
yes it is they sell merchandise,
they make money,
they do crowdfunding, and so all of
their resources are now in jeopardy
because of their own behavior.
And I'm wondering if they're
proud about that.
[LAUGH] I mean,
that's not anything to be proud of.
And I really do hope that they get
cleaned up by these lawsuits
because that's what they deserve.
>> Yeah, so
all the leaders of the so
called Proud Boys,
none of them are ever proud.
Gavin McInnes started the group and
then when his country club
kicked him out because of
it he denounced his own group.
And then later he tried to warm
back into the group but
I do the club,
I hope it hasn't cost you country
club, but I didn't if Tarrio
was also going on country club.
And so by the way, just to
be absolutely clear, I was saying
about Tarrio about how he hates
black people, that's my opinion.
He didn't actually say those words,
but he did say these words, when he
was theoretically apologizing,
before his grave mistakes when he
was in court, he said, well, I've
suffered, this is a direct quote.
I've suffered financially socially
for what I've done, my family's
business has been hit pretty hard.
So what I did doesn't only affect
the Church, it affects a lot more
people, including my family.
>> I'm so sorry,
did your active racism and
hatred also cost you money?
Well, I didn't know it was that
grave, no wonder you thought it was
a mistake.
He's like, I mean,
have I not suffered enough?
Now I'm not making as much money
as I used to off my hatred,
wow he really shed a tear for you.
So to me, he's a loser either way,
the Proud Boys were probably deeply
embarrassed by his
sniffling in court.
And then the judge was vindicated
as soon as he steps
out of the court, and he admits
that he's a total and utter liar.