Ex-Proud Boys leader to stay jailed until Capitol riot trial

The former top leader of the Proud Boys will remain jailed while awaiting trial on charges that he conspired with other members of the far-right extremist group to attack the U.S. Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's presidential victory, a federal judge has ruled.

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio poses a danger to the public that cannot be mitigated by home detention and banning him from using social media, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said in an order issued late Friday.

Tarrio, a South Florida resident, has been jailed since his arrest on March 8, a day after his indictment on charges including conspiracy. A federal magistrate in Miami previously ordered his pretrial detention.

Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders used encrypted channels, social media and other electronic communications to plan and carry out a plot to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and interfere with the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote, according to the indictment.

Tarrio asked Kelly to order his release on bond, but the judge rejected the request. Kelly said the evidence against Tarrio is “very strong” despite Tarrio's argument that authorities essentially do not have “a smoking gun” against him, “perhaps in the form of direct evidence of an order from Tarrio to other Proud Boys to storm the Capitol.”

Tarrio was not in Washington when the insurrection took place. Police had arrested Tarrio in the District of Columbia two days before the riot and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. A judge ordered Tarrio to stay out of the nation's capital.

Before he left Washington, Tarrio met with Oath Keepers founder and leader Elmer “Stewart” Rhodes and others in an underground parking...