Proud Boys verdict is in: Guilty of seditious conspiracy

The verdict is in after several days of deliberation by the jury in the long federal trial against the Proud Boys.

According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, the verdict is a mixed bag for the men, but one main part is that the jury believed that the government prosecutors proved seditious conspiracy for all but recruit Dominic Pezzola. All of the men were guilty of obstruction of Congress, however. The jury will continue to deliberate over the other charges, including whether they think Pezzola is guilty of seditious conspiracy. He's not out of the woods yet.

Lawfare editor Roger Parloff has been in the courtroom every day, live-tweeting his observations at key moments in the trial. Throughout deliberations, he detailed the requests from the jury, giving the public an insight into the thoughts behind those working toward the verdict.

The trial began Jan. 12 and took 62 days before the deliberations began. Parloff explained that the 10-count indictment carries a 20-year maximum prison term if the five men are on trial. They're made up of four Proud Boys leaders and one soldier.

"The top count is seditious conspiracy, which carries a 20-year maximum prison term," explained Parloff. "Prosecutors allege that the defendants conspired 'to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States' or 'by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States.' Specifically, their alleged goal was to 'oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force.'"

Those five men are Ethan Nordean, a leader on the ground; podcaster and Alex Jones favorite Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl, who led the Pennsylvania chapter, and Enrique Tarrio, the national chair and leader on Jan. 6. The "soldier" was recruit Dominic Pezzola.

The main cooperating Proud Boy was Matthew Greene, who detailed the movements of the men both before and during the assault on the Capitol.

According to the Lawfare write-up, Parloff thinks that the government prosecutors have adequately proven their case.

They've argued it wasn't necessary for the Proud Boys to have a detailed plan to prove they conspired together to bring down the government.

"As Department of Justice attorney Conor Mulroe caustically put it at one point, the charge is not seditious plan; the charge is seditious conspiracy. And as long as there is an agreement—even an unspoken and implicit one—to achieve an unlawful objective, that’s sufficient," he said. "The shared objective, the government alleges, was the goal of stopping the certification of the election by any means necessary, up to and including force. The jury instructions, approved by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the District of Columbia, seem to accommodate the government’s theory."

At one point in the trial, the Proud Boys said that they wanted to call Donald Trump to testify. Biggs announced in Feb. Trump would swoop in to save them. It never happened. Since then, however,

Tarrio has borrowed language from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), saying that the jailed militants were the victims of President Joe Biden's weaponization of government. The arrests of the men happened before Biden was sworn in. In fact, their trial also began before Biden was sworn in, indicating that the previous GOP-led Justice Department was behind the prosecutions of the militia members.

Now Tarrio blams Trump, saying that he's going to end up taking the fall for the former president.

“It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6th in your amazing and beautiful city,” said Nayib Hassan, a lawyer for Tarrio during closing arguments, according to Politico.