U.S. Capitol Police arrested Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for assault during a rally near the U.S. Capitol on Friday.
Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were attending a press conference and rally to celebrate President Donald Trump's pardons of Capitol rioters. Tarrio and members of both groups had been convicted and sentenced for their parts in the Capitol insurrection. Tarrio himself was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2023 and received the longest sentence of any convicted rioter at 22 years.
While he was leaving the rally on Friday, police observed Tarrio strike a counterprotester who was holding their cell phone close to him.
"Around 2:30 p.m., our officers witnessed a woman (a counter protester) put a cell phone close to a man’s face, while they were both walking near Delaware Avenue, NE, and D Street," U.S. Capitol Police told Scripps News in a statement. "Then the officers witnessed the man strike the woman’s phone and arm. The woman told our officers that she wanted to be a complainant, and the man was arrested for the simple assault. The man has been identified as Enrique Tarrio."
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Tarrio and others were pardoned via executive order on the first day of President Trump's second term. Tarrio was released from prison on Jan. 21.
Scripps News has reached out to Tarrio's attorney for comment on Friday's incident.
