(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, made startling allegations during a tell-all interview just days before he is set to begin his 22-year prison sentence.
Tarrio claimed in a Friday interview with the Gateway Pundit that federal authorities pressured him to falsely implicate former President Donald Trump to secure his release.
“They asked me to lie about President Trump in order to indict him,” Tarrio asserted. “I told them to pound sand, and because I refused to lie about President Trump it cost me twenty-two years of my life.”
In the interview, Tarrio detailed that he could have avoided a trial. “The truth is, I could have been home,” he added. “I could have been home a long time ago. I could be in my warm ass bed right now, laughing at the world, without a problem… and all I had to do in order to do that was lie about Trump. All I had to do was confirm a lie.”
These shocking allegations come in the wake of Tarrio’s sentencing for seditious conspiracy and his role in leading what the DOJ claimed to be a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election of Joe Biden. Tarrio is slated to serve the longest sentence among individuals associated with the Capitol breach.
In addition, Tarrio’s claims coincide with reports that Attorney General Merrick Garland delayed pursuing charges against former Trump to first prosecute the protestors. As reported by the New York Times in April 2022, this move drew the ire of Biden, who had initially pushed for a more aggressive stance against Trump.
Tarrio’s mother, Zuny Duarte Tarrio, held a press conference on Thursday in which she accused the DOJ of using her son as a pawn to stifle opposition to Biden.
“I think that’s the best person they could have got,” Duarte Tarrio said after calling the DOJ’s prosecution of her son a “witch” hunt. “Giving him 22 years and putting everything out there shuts many people up.”
Despite not being present at the January 6th protest, the DOJ labeled Tarrio the “primary organizer” of the event.
The Tarrio family launched a legal fundraiser to fund an appeal of his 22 year sentence. As of September 8, they have raised nearly $40,000.
