In one courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Friday, a leader of the neofascist, pro-Trump Proud Boys, Charles Donohoe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct the 2020 election and assaulting a police officer during the melee at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In another courtroom just nearby, nearly a dozen members of the Oath Keepers listened in as a federal judge gave the extremist group’s defense attorneys a heaping dose of reality as they—and the nation—careen toward a historic seditious conspiracy trial later this year.
Proud Boy enters guilty plea, others follow
Donohoe, 34, is just the latest member of the Proud Boys to flip on his friends in the face of jail time. Once the leader of the network’s North Carolina chapter, Donohoe could receive up to seven years at sentencing. As a part of his plea agreement, he must cooperate with the Justice Department’s massive probe of Jan. 6 on their command.
Charles Donohoe Plea Agreement by Daily Kos on Scribd
According to court records, Donohoe admitted that around Dec. 19, 2020, Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio enlisted him into a special division of the group known as the Ministry of Self Defense.
It would focus on planning and executing national rallies, and communication was hot and heavy through messaging apps like Telegram.
Donohoe said that under Tarrio’s leadership, he and co-defendants Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl were given a series of tasks aimed at stopping the certification of the election by Congress on Jan. 6.
Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, and Rehl vow they are not guilty.
But according to Donohoe, it was up to him to recruit new members for the Proud Boys’ Jan. 6 mission, and just after Christmas, it was Tarrio’s warnings about the “D.C. government” that he reposted in their group chat.
The message suggested Congress was preparing to “limit access to Washington on Jan. 6” in order to “deny [that] Trump has the people’s support,” court records show.
“We can’t let them succeed. This government is run FOR the people, BY the people… Congress needs a reintroduction to that fact,” Donohoe wrote on Dec. 27.
By Jan. 4, Donohoe knew the Proud Boys were discussing storming the Capitol though he had yet to make a decision about whether he would come to D.C. to help.
US v Donohoe Statement of Offense by Daily Kos on Scribd
But when he learned Tarrio had been arrested, that sealed it.
Tarrio had an outstanding warrant following his Dec. 12, 2020, theft and burning of a Black Lives Matter banner from a D.C. church. He told police he was in town to sell a Jan. 6 rally-goer a pair of empty magazines for high-capacity firearms.
RELATED STORY: Feds indict Proud Boys leader Henry Tarrio—finally
Donohoe created a “New MOSD Leaders Group” after the ringleader’s arrest and told other Proud Boy leaders to clear their chat history and hide any trace of plans to stop the count. Shortly after, he “nuked” that messaging group and created another.
In the new group, Donohoe wrote he was worried “gang charges” could be brought against them all after Tarrio was picked up. He texted members to “stop everything immediately.”
“This comes from the top,” Donohoe wrote.
But by 9:17 P.M. on Jan. 5, prosecutors say fellow Proud Boy Biggs posted to the group telling Donohoe and others there was a meeting with “a lot of guys” and “info should be coming out.”
Tarrio had been released just four hours before that message was sent on Jan. 5.
According to Tarrio’s indictment, he went straight from his release to a meeting with Elmer Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, in an underground parking garage in D.C. Their meeting lasted 30 minutes.
By 9:20 P.M., Tarrio was added to the new MOSD chat, a statement of Donohoe’s offense notes. By midnight—now Jan. 6—Tarrio was allegedly posting in the group again giving instructions to meet at the Washington Monument by 10 A.M.
Donohoe was in D.C. by 6 A.M., and within a few short hours, prosecutors say he, Nordean, and Biggs led a group of more than 100 Proud Boys in a march to the Capitol.
They knew the crowd had grown aggressive and they knew Capitol Police were severely outnumbered, prosecutors say. Donohoe knew his actions were illegal when he followed Nordean and Biggs over police barricades to go inside.
Once in, Donohoe fielded more texts. One asked him if anyone had deployed mace yet.
“We are trying,” Donohoe responded before throwing water bottles at a line of police.
Donohoe eventually ran into Dominic Pezzola—another fellow Proud Boy, though Pezzola has pleaded not guilty.
Pezzola, also known as “Spaz” was carrying a riot shield he allegedly wrestled from a police officer. Donohoe took it and led Pezzola to the Capitol’s west plaza. He snapped a picture of the shield and sent a text to leadership.
“Got a riot shield,” Donohoe wrote.
Working his way back around to the rear of the Capitol, Donohoe recognized another Proud Boy, Daniel “Milkshake” Scott. Scott—who has pleaded not guilty—was in an altercation at the front of a crowd, prosecutors say, near concrete steps.
The steps were the pathway Donohoe used to push through police trying to stop their advance. He was hit with pepper balls and eventually left. Around 7 P.M., Donohoe boasted to leadership about “storming the capitol unarmed.”
In a statement Friday, Donohoe’s attorney said his client “regrets his actions and is remorseful for the conduct that led to these charges.
“He accepts responsibility for his wrongs and is prepared to accept the consequences,” public defender Ira Knight said.
He will remain in jail until sentencing which is expected sometime after July 8.
Meanwhile, other Proud Boys, including West Virginia chapter leader Jeffrey Finley and California Proud Boys member Ricky Willden have entered guilty pleas, too.
Neither Finley nor Wilden faced conspiracy charges tied to stopping the election certification by Congress on Jan. 6, but Finley, 29, faces up to a year in prison for illegally entering the Capitol. Prosecutors say he appeared in photographs standing beside leaders of the Proud Boys as they breached the Capitol.
He also donned an earpiece and engaged with Proud Boys in a Telegram chat group called “Boots on the Ground.” Prosecutors said Finley also tried to obscure his involvement, telling members to delete photos and videos.
“No talks about D.C. on Telegram whatsoever and gathering [numbers] as we speak,” Finley wrote.
Finley Plea Agreement by Daily Kos on Scribd
As for Ricky Willden, the 40-year-old self-proclaimed member of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers on Jan. 6. The California resident admitted to attacking police with chemical sprays and then chucking the canister at police when it was empty.
Willden faces up to eight years in prison, but now that he has agreed to cooperate, he will likely see that shaved down. He will remain detained until his sentencing in August.
Ricky Wilden Plea Agreement Jan 6 by Daily Kos on Scribd
Jeremy Grace, another Proud Boy, also copped a deal Friday. The Battle Ground, Washington, resident flew to D.C. for the Jan. 6 rally with his father, Jeffrey Grace, on Jan. 4. They attended Trump’s speech at the Ellipse and headed toward the U.S. Capitol.
According to Grace’s statement of offense, he was behind the front line of individuals crossing barricades and eventually made his way into the Senate through a door on the northwest side. Together, Grace walked with his father to the Capitol Rotunda before climbing out of a broken window.
They took selfies and shot video as they chanted, “Our house!”
Grace’s father has pleaded not guilty.
Jeremy Grace Proud Boy Plea Ag by Daily Kos on Scribd
Tough day in court for Oath Keepers
Meanwhile Friday, defense attorneys for the Oath Keepers were put to the task by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.
Discovery in the sprawling and historic seditious conspiracy case is massive and in the run-up to trial, defense counsel for Rhodes has argued there hasn’t been enough time to prepare, pointing to the voluminous amounts of video footage they must comb through to make their case. They have also complained about incomplete records of evidence provided by the prosecution to the defense.
But that’s just not so, according to Judge Mehta.
He emphasized that defense attorneys have had several months to hone their case and sort out what will be relevant in the heap of evidence they have had access to.
To that point, he said, it won’t be video footage of Rhodes or some other Oath Keepers charged with conspiracy breaking a window that will make or break the defense, for example.
“What’s in the videos is not going to reveal what's in the defendant's state of mind,” Mehta said Friday. “What will matter is what is in these chats, what is in their social media, what is in the witness interviews. It will matter what they said to each other, what people overheard.”
There are some 45,000 text messages the government deemed important evidence to bring to the impending trial. Mehta sharply told Rhodes’s defense attorney Phillip Linder, he may want to start digging in there.
“Focus on what matters,” the exasperated judge said Friday.
The government has turned over the lion’s share of its evidence available for discovery, including 10,500 videos it seized off Oath Keeper devices alone, grand jury transcripts, and more.
There were also at least 15 Signal group chats on devices that the government found relevant to the seditious conspiracy charges.
All of this was provided to defense attorneys in October.
“Unlike a lot of other defendants, most Jan. 6 cases genuinely are primarily about what the people did at the Capitol that day. This case has to do with that, undoubtedly true, but this is much more about what was said before Jan. 6, what was done in the days leading up to it and what was done on that day and important what was done after, OK? So, I don’t think anything that was done before Jan. 6, nothing after Jan. 6 was captured in video. It’s all in the chats, in their social media. That’s where you need to be looking,” Mehta said. “That’s whats going to tell a jury, not me, a jury, whether these folks engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with Congress.”
Beyond the scope of discovery, there’s also the sheer size of the trial causing much consternation for Judge Mehta.
Much of Friday’s conference was devoted to figuring out how to best run the trials once they kick off. There are 10 total defendants, plus attorneys for each defendant, a jury, court clerks and officers, and press that would need to squeeze into a single room.
Even the large ceremonial courtroom at the federal courthouse wouldn’t suffice. If the trial is moved offsite, then questions about how to properly detain defendants during breaks arise. The same issues plague the Proud Boys conspiracy case.
Defense attorneys have pushed to keep the Oath Keepers together for trial, arguing that splitting them apart would be unfair. Mehta disagreed and proposed that the first batch of Oath Keepers— Jessica Watkins, Joseph Hackett, Kenneth Harrelson, David Moerschel, and Thomas Caldwell—go to trial this July.
Elmer Rhodes, Roberto Minuta, Brian Ulrich, Edward Vallejo, and Kelly Meggs would go to trial in September.
This spurred defense attorneys to pose an interesting proposition: If three other Oath Keepers strike a plea deal—bringing the total group to be tried down to just eight Oath Keepers instead of 10—would that mean Mehta would consider trying them at once?
The judge was careful not to appear with his thumb on the scale; he told attorneys what they decided to do with plea agreements was their decision.
Judge Mehta also informed defendant Kelly Meggs during Friday’s hearing that his attorney, Jonathon Moseley, would not be able to defend him after the commonwealth of Virginia disbarred him last week for disciplinary reasons.
Meggs, who leads the Florida Oath Keepers division, said he has had significant difficulty obtaining a new lawyer because of restrictions placed on him at the D.C. jail.
Mehta said he would contact the jail to ensure he had access and, in the meantime, encouraged Meggs to ask his wife, Connie Meggs, for help. Meggs has claimed he is innocent. He has said in court that he was trying to help U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn during the chaos, not hurt him.
Mark Zaid, an attorney for Dunn, told Daily Kos the suggestion was purely laughable.
“It is ludicrous to assert any of the Jan. 6 seditionists in any way came to the defense or provided assistance to Officer Dunn. Nor, as the judge noted, would it be relevant to the culpability of their actions that day,” Zaid said.
And defense could comb through as much video footage of the day as they like, including any body cam footage they claim exists, Zaid said.
Meggs would be searching for something that doesn’t exist. USCP officers do not wear body cameras.
The next status hearing in the seditious conspiracy case is slated for May 6.
