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Prosecutors won’t charge onetime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio over a confrontation he had with a protestor last month outside the U.S. Capitol.
On February 21, Tarrio was arrested outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C. after swatting a phone out of the hand of a woman who had been “heckling” him. He was charged with simple assault, a type of misdemeanor.
But according to the D.C.-based news outlet WUSA 9, interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin’s office made the call this week to drop the charges.
Tarrio was holding a press conference outside the Capitol alongside Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other pardoned January 6 defendants when the group dispersed. According to reporters, Tarrio then began walking toward Union Station and stopped to speak with a photojournalist.
“As that conversation was occurring, Tarrio was approached by one of the protesters who had been shouting and blowing a whistle during the rally,” WUSA 9 reported. “As she moved toward him with her phone outstretched, Tarrio swiped at it, knocking it to the ground.”
U.S. Capitol Police released a statement following the incident saying that “our officers witnessed a woman (a counter protester) put a cell phone close to a man’s face” while they were both walking. “Then the officers witnessed the man strike the woman’s phone and arm,” the statement said.
At the time, Tarrio told reporters that he believed the charges may be dropped.
On Thursday, Tarrio told New Times he was always confident that Capitol police would drop the charges. He claims that after reviewing their body camera footage, officers informed him that the woman had made contact with him first.
“I knew for a fact that they were going to drop it based on what the Capitol Police told me after they took me into the station,” Tarrio says. “I knew it was coming. My mood didn’t change.”
Notably, Martin, who is awaiting Senate confirmation to permanently take over the role as U.S. Attorney, was involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement and served on the board of a nonprofit that raised money for Capitol riot defendants and their families.
He also legally represented several January 6, 2021, Capitol rioters, including a Proud Boys member who pleaded guilty to felony charges.
