Proud Boys may have plotted Capitol riot in revenge against police, FBI says

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A leader of the Proud Boys who was arrested on Wednesday may have planned part of the 6 January attack on the Capitol as revenge against law enforcement, according to the FBI, having previously expressed anger over the police response to a member’s stabbing during December protests in Washington. 

Before videos captured him helping lead the charge on the Capitol, Ethan Nordean, 30, a leader of the far-right street gang’s Seattle outfit, made multiple comments talking about a desire to get back at police after a Proud Boy was stabbed during election protests in December, according to FBI charging papers

“You took our boy in, and you let our stabber go,” a man authorities identified as Mr Nordean can be heard yelling in a video, just before the raid.

It’s an apparent reference to the stabbing incident as well as the arrest of Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio earlier that day on charges he tore down a Black Lives Matter banner from a historic DC church during a prior protest, which he denies. 

In a post after the attack on the Capitol, Mr Nordean wrote, “If you feel bad for the police, you are part of the problem . . .”

Before heading to Washington, he was allegedly making similar threats online. 

“Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us,” he wrote on the now-shuttered right-wing social network Parler, after allegedly soliciting protective gear and communications equipment. 

Just days before heading to Washington, Mr Nordean spoke on his podcast about the growing animosity of Proud Boys toward the police.

“The police are starting to become a problem,” he said, according to an affidavit. “We’ve had their back for years.”

As federal authorities work their way through the more than 100 cases against Capitol rioters that’ve already been filed, they are reportedly exploring the extent to which the attacks were coordinated, which would change their legal strategy and perhaps heighten penalties, and are even considering invoking the so-called RICO statute, normally used to prosecute mob conspiracies.