‘Stand back and stand by’ merch? Proud Boys leader Henry Enrique' Tarrio jokes about NOT cashing in on Trump quip
The House select committee that is leading the public hearing and investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol presented never-before-seen documents and videos from previous undisclosed interviews. The Panel played the footage of interviews with the Proud Boys showing Trump's role in emboldening the far-right groups that instigated the violence of January 6.
In the 2020 presidential debate, while on stage with Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump was asked to disavow white supremacist groups and urge them to "stand down." Trump answered, "Give me a name," and Biden called out the far-right Proud Boys group. "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said. After the debate, on the Proud Boys' Telegram channel, members boasted of Mr. Trump's reaction. They used "stand back" and "stand by" in the logo and posted videos from the debate with the caption "God. Family. Brotherhood."
RELATED ARTICLES
Biden responded to a tweet about the Proud Boys' reaction by tweeting, "This is Donald Trump's America."
This. This is Donald Trump's America. https://t.co/wld2mmGTwe
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020
The House committee drew a link between that debate stage comment and the pro-Trump mob that sought to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's electoral victory. In the interview, former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio cracked a wary smile and said he regretted not selling t-shirts brandished with the words "Stand back and stand by." "One of the vendors on my page actually beat me to it, but I wish I would've made a 'stand back stand by' t-shirt," Tarrio said in his interview with the House committee.
The central point of the footage was to show Trump's role in emboldening the far-right groups that instigated the violence of January 6. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democratic chair, noted that members of the Proud Boys and far-right Oath Keepers group have pleaded guilty to a charge of the seditious conspiracy.
The House committee also highlighted a post on the social media site Parlor in which Tarrio responded to Trump's "stand back and stand by" comment. "Standing by sir".
Tarrio is behind bars now. The Justice Department on Monday, June 6, charged the head of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, and four other leaders with seditious conspiracy in the January 6 US Capitol attack, escalating the criminal case against the far-right extremist group. As per the charge sheet released by the Department of Justice, "Their actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election."
The defendants include Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 38, of Miami, Florida, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys; Ethan Nordean, 31, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, 38, of Ormond Beach, Florida; Zachary Rehl, 37, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York.
