WASHINGTON — A Proud Boys leader accused of helping to incite the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building suggested Wednesday one of his co-defendants had gone rogue when he used a police riot shield to smash in a window on Jan. 6.
Former Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter president Zachary Rehl first took the stand Tuesday to testify in his own defense in the ongoing seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the group. Rehl, a former U.S. Marine corporal and son of a former Philadelphia police officer, said he joined the group in 2018 as a means of expanding his growing business network. He eventually became the chapter president of the Philadelphia branch – which he likened variously to a drinking club and a “fraternity” – and was on Jan. 6 a member of the national “Ministry of Self-Defense” (MOSD) chapter started after several Proud Boys were stabbed in D.C. in December 2020.
Rehl drove to D.C. with several other members of his chapter on Jan. 5 ahead of a planned “Stop the Steal” rally promoted by former President Donald Trump. On Jan. 6, he marched with dozens of members of the Proud Boys from the Washington Monument to the Capitol. There, some members of the group charged police barricades, assaulted officers and, in New York Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola’s case, helped cause the first breach of the building.
Like other Proud Boys who testified earlier in the trial, Rehl denied knowledge of any plan to assault police or occupy the Capitol on Jan. 6. He also denied ever meeting or speaking with Pezzola on or before Jan. 6. On Wednesday, with Pezzola sitting just feet away at the defendants’ table, Rehl addressed his co-defendant’s role in the riot.
“It’s specifically what the MOSD was supposed to prevent,” Rehl said. “He went off on his own, I guess, and made us all look bad.”
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Pezzola, also a Marine Corps veteran, has denied any knowledge of a plan to attack the Capitol. His attorneys have argued he went into combat mode due to police use of less-lethal munitions to repel rioters on Jan. 6. His long-time partner, Lisa Magee, testified earlier in the trial that Pezzola had become “consumed” by right-wing news and lies about the 2020 election prior to Jan. 6, and Pezzola was expected to take the stand himself later in the trial.
The Justice Department has accused Rehl and four other Proud Boys, including Pezzola and former chairman Enrique Tarrio, of plotting to incite the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Rehl’s testimony came after three months of trial and was expected to be one of the final things jurors heard from the defense side. What jurors heard Wednesday was Rehl repeatedly denying any plan or even desire to engage in violence on Jan. 6 — and rebutting a fellow Proud Boy's claims to the contrary.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors called former North Carolina Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino as one of their key witnesses. Bertino, who was not in D.C. on Jan. 6, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of seditious conspiracy. On the stand in February, he said he viewed Proud Boys as the “tip of the spear” for the right wing following Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. After Jan. 6, he testified, he felt like the “revolution had failed.”
“Did you share Bertino’s objective for January 6th” Sabino Jauregui, an attorney for Tarrio, asked Rehl on Wednesday.
“No, and honestly I don’t know how he came up with it,” Rehl said.
Over and over again under questioning from Hernandez and Jauregui, Rehl denied any planning or coordination by the Proud Boys to participate in violence at the Capitol.
“I think what ultimately unfolded, all the violence, was a disgrace,” he said. “I think that… it didn’t do any good. It didn’t do Trump any good that day. It disrupted the legal process [of election objections]. Anybody who assaulted cops, they’re charged with that. Rightly so.”
Rehl, who said he’d followed Trump’s legal challenges to the election results around the country but also described himself as an “independent,” lamented the effect the riot had on what many Trump supporters believed was a chance at sending the results back to the states.
“I left the Capitol at 3:30 and got drunk with my friends,” he said. “When I woke up the next day it turned out a lot of these senators had turned their backs on Trump and revoked their objections. A lot of them blamed the riot.”
The government’s cross-examination of Rehl was expected to begin next week following questioning by an attorney representing his co-defendant, Tarrio. As of Wednesday, of the five defendants, only Rehl and Pezzola had indicated they planned to testify in their own defense.
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