Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right Proud Boys who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his conviction related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, was arrested Friday outside the Capitol after a scuffle with a protester.
Tarrio swiped at the protester’s hand after she put it close to Tarrio’s face while he was speaking with a journalist. Capitol Police officers immediately surrounded Tarrio, put him in handcuffs and took him into custody.
The protester appeared to be uninjured and could be seen speaking with officers.
Just moments before the incident, Tarrio had stood alongside dozens of pardoned Jan. 6 allies, including several other Proud Boys leaders who played central roles in the attack. They were delivering a press conference on Capitol grounds as about a dozen demonstrators protested nearby.
A POLITICO reporter witnessed the incident.
Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 attack and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. But he was released from prison last month as part of the mass clemency that Trump granted to Jan. 6 defendants.
The Capitol Police issued a statement confirming the details of the encounter, saying they observed Tarrio “strike the woman’s phone and arm.”
“The woman told our officers that she wanted to be a complainant, and the man was arrested for the simple assault,” the department said in an unsigned statement.
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