The Proud Boys trial was abruptly halted over an FBI whistleblower

The trial of members of the Proud Boys was dropped this week after it was revealed a witness expected to testify was previously a government whistleblower.

According to the Associated Press, the revelation was made Wednesday by federal prosecutors in the sedition case involving Proud Boys members Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Dominic Pezzola, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl for their alleged role in the March 6 US Capitol. January 2021 were involved uprising.

Rehl’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, requested that the trial be stayed “until these issues are reviewed and resolved,” the AP reported.

On Thursday morning, Politico’s Kyle Cheney reported that the trial had been dropped.

This week’s disclosure comes amid the trial in one of the largest Capitol riot cases handled by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Throughout the trial, similar issues were raised by attorneys representing the Proud Boys.

This month, Nordean’s attorney, Nicholas Smith, filed a complaint accusing an FBI special agent of allegedly hiding messages. Special Agent Nicole Miller was required to turn over any written statements related to her testimony, but Nordean’s attorney said in a court filing that “close examination of the agent’s sheet revealed over a thousand hidden Excel lines of messages.”

In this week’s court filing, Hernandez said, “This immediate motion is based on a disclosure made to defense counsel today, December 22 to the United States and the Court, pursuant to the court’s instructions December 2022), which was scheduled to appear the following day in the defense case, has been working as CHS from April 2021 until at least January 2023.

“During this time, the CHS [Confidential Human Source] contacted one or more defense counsel and at least one defendant by telephone, text message or other electronic means. During this time, the CHS also participated in prayer meetings with members of one or more families of the accused.”

news week emailed Hernandez for comment.

The DOJ filed a motion for reply Thursday morning that disputed some of the allegations made by the Proud Boys’ attorneys.

“Although it was well known to the FBI that CHS was active in assisting defendants who knowingly ruled for crimes related to the May 6 attack on the US Capitol, CHS never investigated her relationship with defendant Enrique Tarrio or any of the other defendants or attorneys in this matter,” the motion reads.

news week was referred to the application after contacting the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC for comment.