We collect cookies to analyze our website traffic and performance; we never collect any personal data. Cookie Policy
Accept
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: Proud Boys Case Shows Tensions Between Parallel Inquiries Into Jan. 6
Share
Font ResizerAa
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Follow US
NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Politics > Proud Boys Case Shows Tensions Between Parallel Inquiries Into Jan. 6
Proud Boys Case Shows Tensions Between Parallel Inquiries Into Jan. 6
Politics

Proud Boys Case Shows Tensions Between Parallel Inquiries Into Jan. 6

Last updated: June 22, 2022 7:53 pm
Editorial Board Published June 22, 2022
Share
SHARE
22dc proudboys1 facebookJumbo

For the past year or so, the Justice Department and the House select committee on Jan. 6 have largely managed to avoid interfering with each other, even though both have been driving hard and fast over the same terrain in pursuit of the facts about the mob attack on the Capitol last year and what led to it.

But in recent days, in a sign of mounting tension, the parallel inquiries have bumped into each other as defense lawyers and prosecutors in one of the most prominent criminal cases — the Proud Boys sedition case — reached a rare point of agreement: that the committee’s efforts are causing headaches to the normal course of orderly prosecution.

At a hearing on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Washington, the two opposing sides joined forces in asking a judge to put some breathing room between the case and the committee’s work, and delay the marquee trial that was supposed to start in August.

Judge Timothy J. Kelly ultimately granted the request, saying that the Proud Boys trial will now begin in December. As part of his ruling, Judge Kelly noted the committee’s role in the delay.

“Every party before me believes the trial should be continued for reasons of the activities of the Jan. 6 committee,” Judge Kelly said. He pointed out that even though one of the Proud Boys defendants — Enrique Tarrio, the group’s former leader — opposed the delay, pushing back the trial was “the first thing that all of the parties in this case have agreed on.”

It was perhaps inevitable that tensions would arise between the two investigations that are being conducted at the same time, along similar lines of inquiry, by separate branches of the government.

The Justice Department has been wrangling in recent weeks with the committee over access to transcripts of interviews the House panel has conducted, with the committee signaling that it could begin sharing some material with federal prosecutors next month while withholding other material until its inquiry wraps up in September.

The Themes of the Jan. 6 House Committee Hearings

But the Proud Boys case is the first of more than 820 criminal matters connected to the Capitol attack in which the competing interests of the House committee and the Justice Department have become a legal issue.

From the start, the two investigations have had different purposes and have been guided by different rules.

By the panel’s own account, the committee’s inquiry was intended to explore as fully as possible the roots of the violence at the Capitol, and it is ultimately meant to propose legislation to prevent something similar from happening again. Its investigators have been graced with a relatively free hand to subpoena records and witnesses even though dozens of people — particularly those close to former President Donald J. Trump — have refused to comply with its demands.

The Justice Department, by contrast, has a narrower if potentially more consequential goal in mind: to figure out if anyone connected to the Capitol attack or to Mr. Trump’s various efforts to subvert the election should be charged with federal crimes. Its investigators are bound by rules that require high standards of proof to be met even before they can start collecting evidence.

The problems in the Proud Boys case began this month, immediately after prosecutors filed seditious conspiracy charges against five top members of the far-right group. The charges came at a highly fraught moment: just three days before the House committee held its widely anticipated first public hearing.

Updated 

June 21, 2022, 6:52 p.m. ET

Given that the hearing focused closely on the Proud Boys’ role in the Capitol attack, lawyers for the group became enraged, promptly claiming in court hearings and papers that the Justice Department had colluded with the committee to heighten attention for its findings.

“No objective observer would deny the reasonability of the inference that the filing of the sedition charges was timed to coincide with the select committee’s prime-time hearing on television concerning the very same subject,” one of the Proud Boys’ lawyers wrote.

The Proud Boys also argued that the widely watched hearings, which have been going on all month and are likely to continue in July, have irreparably biased the jury pool in Washington — or, as one of their lawyers put it in a recent filing, the “good, well-meaning, informed, media-attentive citizenry of the District of Columbia.”

Prosecutors have denied that they coordinated their charges to coincide with the committee’s public hearings and have argued that potential jurors in Washington are no more likely to have watched the televised events than those in Miami or New York.

Still, another sticking point has emerged between the House committee and the Justice Department: the question of when the panel plans to release as many as 1,000 transcripts it has made of interviews conducted with its witnesses.

The committee has suggested that it will make the transcripts public as early as July, after originally saying they might be released in September. But both of these dates upset the Proud Boys’ lawyers who, before Wednesday’s hearing, told Judge Kelly they were concerned about the transcripts coming out and biasing a jury near their trial.

The lawyers have also worried that there might be new details about their clients in the transcripts that could further inflame a jury or damage their defenses. At least two Proud Boys connected to the criminal proceeding gave interviews to the committee: Mr. Tarrio, who has been charged with seditious conspiracy, and Jeremy Bertino, who is mentioned in court filings but for the moment is uncharged.

The government, for its own reasons, has also worried about what the transcripts might contain, and last week prosecutors filed court papers in the Proud Boys’ case that included a letter that the Justice Department had sent to the committee’s staff.

In the two-page letter, department officials accused the panel of hampering both future criminal cases and cases that were already underway by refusing to share the transcripts. The officials said they were particularly worried that by withholding the transcripts, the committee was making it more difficult for prosecutors to gauge the credibility of witnesses who may have both spoken to the panel and secretly appeared before a grand jury.

You Might Also Like

Trump yanks deportation protections for 50,000 Nicaraguans, Hondurans

Lethal Texas flash floods sparks controversy over Trump cuts to NWS, NOAA

NYC Mayor Adams says Cuomo pushing him to drop out of race to maximise probabilities in opposition to Mamdani

NYC Mayor Adams waves off considerations about Trump’s threats on Mamdani

Mayor Adams celebrates closure of Roosevelt Lodge shelter, image of NYC migrant disaster

TAGGED:House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th AttackJustice DepartmentProud BoysStorming of the US Capitol (Jan, 2021)The Washington MailUnited States Politics and Government
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

Follow US

Find US on Social Medias
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
YoutubeSubscribe
TelegramFollow
Popular News
The creators of ‘Business’: 5 selections that saved the HBO present from oblivion
Entertainment

The creators of ‘Business’: 5 selections that saved the HBO present from oblivion

Editorial Board June 17, 2025
How espresso impacts a sleeping mind
A 2-Ingredient Citrus Dessert to Brighten Up Winter Days
‘Inventing Anna’ Review: The SoHo Scammer, Explained at Length
Blue Ocean Video games declares $30M fund to put money into indie video games by way of recreation problem

You Might Also Like

Republicans go Massive Stunning Invoice with solely two GOP reps voting no
Politics

Republicans go Massive Stunning Invoice with solely two GOP reps voting no

July 7, 2025
Trump talks to Russia’s Putin however no signal of progress on Ukraine
Politics

Trump talks to Russia’s Putin however no signal of progress on Ukraine

July 7, 2025
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries breaks document in defiant speech to delay Trump’s invoice
Politics

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries breaks document in defiant speech to delay Trump’s invoice

July 7, 2025
Cuomo’s rich donor base splintering  as he mulls impartial NYC mayoral run
Politics

Cuomo’s rich donor base splintering as he mulls impartial NYC mayoral run

July 7, 2025

Categories

  • Health
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Art

About US

New York Dawn is a proud and integral publication of the Enspirers News Group, embodying the values of journalistic integrity and excellence.
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Term of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 New York Dawn. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?