DOJ Caught Using Informant to Spy on Proud Boys’ Defense Team

One of the most consistent and vociferous arguments that has been made regarding the prosecution of defendants charged with crimes stemming from January 6th, 2022 is that the government is treating them unfairly now that the Democrats control the White House.  The sentences have been anything but lenient for starters, and some of these folks’ most ardent congressional supporters have suggested that their arrest and detention are not only unlawful, but they are being denied their human rights while incarcerated.

Now, a worrisome new claim is being revealed in which the Department of Justice knowingly and willingly allowed one of their own moles to remain embedded within the Proud Boys organization, even as the group was gathering with their defense team to discuss legal strategy.

The government in the Proud Boys J6 trial seems to be misleading the defense and the court about the existence of informants or Confidential Human Sources (CHS). A new emergency motion from the defense counsel in the Zachary Rehl case states the government waited until March 22 to tell the court that one of the defense witnesses has been a CHS “since April 2021 through at least January 2023,” or since the beginning of the case through the start of the trial. March 22 happens to be the day before the CHS was scheduled to testify for the defense. According to reporting from Julie Kelly, “prosecutors knew back in December that defense planned to call this person as a witness…and the individual continued to work as an informant, spying on defense, during trial prep.”

A lawyer for the group was not taking the situation lightly.

The revelation prompted Proud Boys’ public defender, Carmen Hernandez, to file an emergency motion requiring the government to “disclose to the defense all reports and recordings” relating to individuals who may have been FBI informants. The four other Proud Boys defendants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Enrique Tarrio, and Dominic Pezzola, joined in Hernandez’s request. Enrique Tarrio was the national chairman of the Proud Boys organization. Zachary Rehl has been denied bail for two years by Judge Tim Kelly despite being a non-violent participant in the J6 protest. Rehl was president of his local chapter of the Proud Boys. Judge Kelly ordered a response from D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office by 9 am. Thursday.

The situation allowed the DOJ access to the inner workings of an organization that they themselves were attempting to investigate and were subsequently prosecuting, and that certainly doesn’t jibe with the way in which our judicial system was designed.