The January six hearings forced a judge to delay the
sedition trial for five top members of the proud boys.
A far right group tied to the insurrection. That case
will now begin in December. A federal judge delayed the
trial at the request of both prosecutors and defense
attorneys who said the hearings were interfering with
efforts to prepare their cases. The Department of
Justice says the committee has withheld witness
transcripts that Could help with their case. The proud
boys have also been prominently featured in the
hearings with videos before and during the insurrection
on display of the more than 840 people arrested for
storming the us Capitol on January 6, 28 are members of
the proud boys. Well, we do want to go more in depth
about the proud boys who they are and also the group's
alleged actions on January 6th joining us now with more
on this is Roudabeh Kishi, the director of research and
innovation for the Armed conflict location and event
data project, or the nonprofit group collects data o
political violence and events all around the world.
Thanks so much for for being with us. We appreciate it
Thanks for having me. The proud boys describe
themselves as a gentleman's drinking club. The reality
suggests something other than that. So in your own
words, who are they? What do they want and what do they
do? So actually, we tried political violence and
protests around the world. So despite what the proud
boys might call themselves, they're one of the most
active groups engaging in demonstrations in the US in
fact they're the most active of the over 190 different
far right groups that we've tracked and their
engagement in demonstrations is disproportion
violent with protests that they engage in Turning
violent nearly 20% of the time. So for comparison other
protests in the us turned violent less than 3% of the
time, meaning that protests with proud boys turned
violent nearly nine times as often. And what's been
really worrying is that they've only become more active
and more violent since January since. So that was gonna
be what I want to ask is is this something that, you
know, we see a headline here and there and we hear the
name proud Boys, you know, every you know, random
whatever. Um But how prevalent is this in other groups
too? Because proud Boys isn't the only group that is
kind of involved in this. That's right. They're the
quite a number of them. Um and we see groups um emerge
you know regularly and how, I mean what does that say
about the society that we live in now that this is
becoming kind of more mainstrea Okay. Um I mean I
think it is really pointing to how how polarized the
environment is and how it how it breeds this type of
engagement with different types of groups that are able
to mobilize and we see quite quite a number of them.
There's there's 16 committee um also says it has
testimony about the proud boys intentions on January
6th? Let's play this sound bite and get your reaction
on the other side. The fact that the vice president's
life was in danger, A recent court filing by the
Department of Justice explains that a confidential
informant from the proud boys told the FBI the proud
boys would have killed mike pence if given a chance. So
let me ask you this, what is the basic profile of a, of
a proud boy? Generally speaking I get it. What part of
the country do they come from? Age, race, income,
educational level. Who, what as we speak, kind of, who
were ill stop there. What's the profile of an average
proud boy? I know that's a tough question, but pain and
broad strokes, what kind of people are susceptible to
joining a group like this. Um, so I'll preface with,
um, this isn't exactly what we track at. We tracked
political violence and protests So we track these
outcomes of what these groups do. Um, but in terms of
who the members are, I mean, we see, um, it's probably
specifically is, is men. Um, and we see kind of a
younger profile. Um, but you know, at, we track kind of
the type of engagement that they then engaged in once
they're recruited and mobilized God because I googled
them today just to see the latest and there were
reports in north Carolina where they disrupted a pride
event at a library in the small little beach town of
Wilmington's uh north Carolina. who are who are the
targets for for their rage? Is it is it raises its
sexuality, Is it politics or all the above? But it's a
region of all of the above, especially in the afterm
of January six. initially we saw a decline in
engagement by the proud boys an a lot of the other um
a lot of other far right groups, especially wi
heightened um legal scrutiny around those types of
groups. But then come summer of last year, we really
began to see these groups, including the proud boy
really engaging in in around new drivers and trying to
kind of co opt new populations, especially those o
right, whether it's um networking with other far right
groups or engaging with the, you know, the right more
largely whether it's the religious right when it comes
to abortion or anti abortion and anti LGBT activity or
whether it's um parents, for example, we saw that last
summer around mobilization around opposition to
critical race theory. So that has really been a
strategic move by groups like the proud boys to really
begin widening their reach, whether it's becoming more
prominent within mainstream med and also when it
comes to mobilization. And we saw that kind of
happening hand in hand with um, you know, a
proliferation of private chapters, for example, around
the U. S. Right? So as we mentioned, several member
the proud boys are charged with sedition um with the
1/6 committee and and accused of planning violence at
the capitol. So how have the group's numbers across the
country changed since the insurrection? I know that you
said there have been more groups kind of popping up all
over the place, but maybe the proud boys specifical
Um again, we we don't track that specifically at a
clip, but other groups have been documenting, you know
an increase in the number of chapters. For example, the
proud boys has a national presence. But then the
really have been shifting their focus to more localized
engagement. And that has been, you know, really um
fueled by by local chapters being established arou
the country. I think the most chilling thing that
you've said so far is that these groups have become
more active and more violent since january 6th despi
the fact that hundreds of riders from 16 have been
charged despite the ongoing 16 committee hearings,
which is kind of laying there everything that th
committee has has learned about what happened that day.
What do you think is in the culture or in our politics
right now where these kind of right wing groups feel
Emboldened 1 6 didn't seem like a warning sign. It
seems like the beginning of something. Um I mean, I
think that it points to some of the legality that um
and and lack thereof around enforcing or stopping th
enforcement of some of these groups and their
engagement. Um I'm not suggesting that anyone should b
kept from from protesting in a peaceful way. Um You
know, that's obviously a constitutional right, but when
it comes to outright violence, when we're seeing an
increase in kind of contentious demonstrations w
we're two opposing sides show up, especially when the
sides are armed, that poses a risk not only for the
demonstrators, but also for for bystanders for for
journalists. Um and I think that those are the types of
worries that we should really kind of be considering
when um when thinking about, you know, what these types
of groups are allowed to do. We did we did see Adam
Kinzinger on the 1/6 committee just a few days ago warn
of more political violence um, in in our country
chilling. Um and as you said, it's a problem that is
growing and intensifying, which scary for a lot of
reasons, Roubadeh Kishi. Thank you so much for giving
us some time and some insight today. We we appreciate
it. And the important work that you and your colleagues
are doing right now. It's a it's a perilous time for
the country. Thank you. Thanks for having me