WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that a witness expected to testify for the defense at the incendiary conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates secretly acted as a government informant for nearly two years after the attacks from January 6. 2021, US Capitol attack, a defense attorney said in a lawsuit.
Carmen Hernandez, an attorney for Zachary Rehl, former leader of the Proud Boys chapter, asked a judge to immediately schedule an emergency hearing and stay the trial “until these issues are considered and resolved.” Attorneys for the other four defendants joined Hernandez’s request.
Hernandez said in court filings that the defense team was told by prosecutors Wednesday afternoon that the witness they planned to call on Thursday was a government informant.
The judge ordered prosecutors to file a response to the defense by Thursday afternoon and scheduled a hearing for the same day, adjourning testimony in the case until Friday. The US law firm did not immediately comment on the filing.
In her lawsuit, Hernandez said the unnamed informant participated in “prayer meetings” with relatives of at least one of the Proud Boys on trial and had discussions with relatives about replacing one of the defense attorneys in the case. The informant also interacted with at least one of the defense attorneys and at least one of the five defendants, Hernandez wrote.
It is the latest twist in a process that has been bogged down by bickering between lawyers and judge and has taken much longer than expected. Defense attorneys have repeatedly unsuccessfully asked the judge to declare a mistrial on a number of cases they believe have been unfair to their clients.
The trial in Washington federal court is one of the most serious cases to emerge from the January 6 attack. Tarrio, Rehl and three other Proud Boys — Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola — are charged with conspiracy to block the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Tarrio, a Miami native, was national president of the far-right extremist group, whose members describe it as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” He and the other Proud Boys face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Defense attorneys have argued that there is no evidence that the Proud Boys conspired to attack the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.
Hernandez did not name the informant in her police report, but she said it is someone who has served as a “confidential human source” for the federal government from April 2021 to at least January 2023. Prosecutors knew in December that the person was a potential test witness, but did not inform defense attorneys until Wednesday that the witness was a federal informant, she said.
It is not the first time that the government’s use of informants has become a problem in the case. Defense lawyers have repeatedly pressed for more information about informers in the far-right extremist group as they try to undermine the idea that the group had a plan to attack the capital on January 6.
FBI agent Nicole Miller testified last week that she was aware of two Proud Boys informants, including one who marched on the capitol on Jan. 6.
Hernandez said there are “reasons to doubt the veracity of the government’s statement and justification for withholding information about the (confidential human sources) involved in the case.” She was not immediately available for additional comment.
Law enforcement routinely uses informants in criminal investigations, but their methods and identities can be closely guarded secrets. Federal authorities have not released much information about their use of informants in investigating the role of the Proud Boys in the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol.
Nordean, from Auburn, Washington, was a leader of the Proud Boys chapter. Biggs, from Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-proclaimed Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola was a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.
___
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
