Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio arrested for assault in DC

WASHINGTON - The former leader of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police for assault on Friday. Enrique Tarrio is accused of assaulting a woman who was protesting the release of him and other Jan. 6 rioters, thousands of whom were pardoned by President Donald Trump on his first day in office. 

Tarrio and others who were pardoned for crimes stemming from the Capitol insurrection, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, had just finished up a press conference on Capitol grounds Friday when the incident happened. 

According to USCP, around 2:30 p.m., officers witnessed a counter-protester put her phone close to Tarrio's face while they were both walking near the Capitol following the press conference that had ended "without incident," police said. USCP officers reported seeing Tarrio smack down the woman's cellphone and hit her arm. She then told police she wanted to press charges. 

Tarrio was taken into custody and video of the arrest quickly began circulating on social media. He has been charged with simple assault. 

Who is Enrique Tarrio? 

The backstory:

Enrique Tarrio was the leader of the group the Proud Boys. The organization is a group of self-described "Western chauvinists" who adamantly deny any connection to the racist "alt-right." They say they are "anti-political correctness" and "anti-white guilt." '

Tarrio's name came into the media prominently in 2017, when the Proud Boys joined other neo-fascist and white supremacist groups at the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville. In 2018, he was named Chairman of the Proud Boys. 

The Proud Boys were a towering voice amid the Jan. 6 riots. Tarrio, along with three other Proud Boys leaders, were convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy for their role in the attack on the Capitol. 

Tarrio was serving a 22-year sentence — the longest among hundreds of Capitol riot cases when Trump granted clemency to all 1,500-plus people charged in the Jan. 6 attack.

Jan. 6 Pardons

Big picture view:

In an executive order signed on Trump's first day in office, Jan. 20, the president pardoned all those convicted of federal crimes in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Trump often referred to those rounded up by the feds for the attack as "hostages." In his inaugural address, Trump called January 20, 2025 "Liberation Day."

"I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive," the president said. "These were people that actually loved our country. So, we thought a pardon would be appropriate."

By the numbers:

The Jan. 6 prosecution was the largest case in the U.S. Justice Department's history.

Roughly 1,500 participants in total were pardoned. And for 300 others awaiting trial, their cases have been dismissed.

Of the 1,500, more than 1,000 pleaded guilty, and 250 were convicted after trial. Only two alleged rioters were acquitted of all charges by judges after bench trials. No jury has fully acquitted a defendant. 

The overturning of those prosecutions was the first step in the president's promised overhaul of the Justice Department itself.