During Matthew Greene’s cross-examination by Tarrio’s counsel, Nayib Hassan, Hassan referred to Greene as “Mr. Benefits” as he ran over terms of Greene’s plea agreement with the Justice Department to potentially reduce his sentence.
When Hassan brought out physical evidence, namely, a handmade wooden shield made by a Proud Boy, he pressed Greene to answer whether it would have really protected anyone against any weapon. Wasn’t it just decorative?
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Greene testified.
Greene was tapped to program handheld radios ahead of Jan. 6 too. They weren’t the kind someone could just pick up an outdoor sporting goods store or something similar.
“It could be beyond some people,” Greene said.
Hassan retorted: “Anything could be beyond anybody right?”
Greene, who appeared slightly slumped in his chair after two days of testimony, agreed.
In his opening statement, Tarrio’s attorney laid the blame squarely on Trump for the event of Jan. 6 and said that Proud Boys were effectively “scapegoats” since holding a former president to account, in his opinion, would be impossible.
Hassan picked up on that point again Wednesday.
“Mr. Greene, you felt manipulated by Mr. Trump?”
Greene said he was unsure what the attorney meant.
“Your feelings got revved up because of Trump?” Hassan pressed.
“The president definitely contributed to my feelings [on Jan. 6], yes,” Greene said.
Hassan pressed: And Tarrio didn’t have anything to do with that?
Greene answered simply: “No.”
The former Proud Boy also fielded questions from Steven Metcalf, an attorney for defendant Dominic Pezzola.
Metcalf’s cross of Greene was fraught at times, with the men talking over one another as Metcalf grilled him about his plea agreement as well as his understanding of how concurrent sentences work. Greene is facing gun charges in New York in addition to the federal charges he now faces. The gun charges were tied to illegal firearms he had in his home that were found after his arrest.
Greene will not be sentenced on any charges until his cooperation is complete.
Things started to get a bit more interesting when Metcalf began to press Greene about his relationship to Pezzola.
Was Greene jealous that Pezzola seemed to ascend the ranks of the Proud Boys faster than he did? Was Greene jealous that Pezzola’s picture appeared in the Washington Post after the Dec. 12 rally in Washington? During that rally, Greene testified that he worked to avoid having his picture taken because he didn’t want to risk losing his job if his face was plastered all over the media after the rally.
Greene said he didn’t stop caring about being known to the public by Jan. 6, but he was less concerned by then.
Greene denied being envious of Pezzola.
As the day came to a close and jurors were excused, attorney Norm Pattis, who represents defendant Joe Biggs, told Judge Kelly that he intended to call former President Donald Trump to testify. He requested assistance from the court to do it. Kelly disregarded the request and the trial day came to a close.
Prosecutors are expected to pick up on Thursday with redirect of the witness, giving the government a chance to refocus the jury.
No recap tonight, but a live blog will post Thursday and a recap will follow then.