Proud Boys member says he ‘called Trump ally’ Roger Stone on speakerphone days before Capitol riots
A PROUD Boys member said he “called Trump ally” Roger Stone on speakerphone just days before Capitol riots.
Enrique Tarrio’s revelation came as FBI officials work to investigate the deadly events that unfolded in the January 6 riots, that left five people dead.
Tarrio, the leader of the far-right group, told the New York Times that he called Stone – who was formerly an adviser to President Trump – just days before the deadly riots.
He told The Times that he made the call while at a protest outside Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s home.
Tarrio said he put the phone on speaker so Stone could speak to the crowd.
Stone is not a suspect in the riots and related events.
He has denied any involvement or knowledge of the attack.
Stone said he quit from the Trump campaign in 2015 – but Trump’s team said he was fired.
The ex-adviser was sentenced to 40 months in prison after he was convicted in November 2019 on seven charges – including lying lying to Congress, tampering with a witness, and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to tip the 2016 election.
Trump commuted Stone’s sentence, however, in July 2020.
Just a day before the insurrection, Tarrio was banned from Washington DC.
He was barred from the nation’s capital after he was suspected of burning a Black Lives Matter banner from the historically Black Asbury United Methodist Church, and was found with two firearms.
Tarrio’s revelation comes just days after FBI Director Chris Wray blasted the riots as “domestic terrorism.”
“I was appalled that you, our country’s elected leaders, were victimized right here in these very halls,” Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
“That siege was criminal behavior, pure and simple. It’s behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism.”
He added the threat is “on the same level with ISIS and homegrown violent extremists.”
Last month, the ex-police chief said that Capitol rioters came “prepared for war” – but there was no FBI warning about the coordinated attack.
“When the group arrived at the perimeter, they did not act like any group of protestors I had ever seen,” ousted chief Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said.
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He claimed that it was not a lack of planning, but rather a failure across the board from multiple agencies.
Trump was Impeached – for the second time – in the House on a count of inciting an insurrection in connection with the riots.
He was acquitted, in the Senate, however.