'Aspiring future ahead': Proud Boys leader asks Trump for pardon from seditious conspiracy

A lawyer representing Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has asked President-elect Donald Trump to issue “a full and complete Presidential Pardon” for his conviction in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, NBC News reported Monday.

Attorney Nayib Hassan wrote in a letter that Tarrio is a “young man with an aspiring future ahead of him” who was “portrayed throughout the Government’s case as a right-wing extremist that promoted a neo-fascist militant organization” when, Hassan claimed, Tarrio is "nothing more than a proud American that believes in true conservative values.”

Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy — one of the longest sentences for any of the more than 1,000 people arrested for the attack. At trial, Hassan argued that Tarrio was simply following what he believed to be Trump's instructions to "fight like hell" for him, a statement he made at a rally shortly before the attack was launched to try to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's victory.

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While Tarrio did not directly participate in the attack, prosecutors said he was central to a violent assault for the Proud Boys, a self-styled "Western Chauvinist" group with ties to white supremacists known for their street-brawling tactics.

Though Tarrio is behind bars, his legal entanglements are not over; he was also called as a witness in a separate case against a police officer charged with illegally passing him information, which resulted in courtroom drama.

Trump has repeatedly said he would like to issue pardons to Jan. 6 rioters. However, he has not committed to a blanket pardon for all of them, instead suggesting he will review each case individually — which has frustrated some defendants as they view it as a walkback of his promise and can't pin him down on what exactly his plan will be.