President Donald Trump offered a message of support to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists when he met with a former Proud Boys militant in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
Enrique Tarrio, who formerly led the right-wing militant group before his conviction on sedition charges, met with the president Saturday after a member invited him and his mother, Zuny Duarte, reported the New York Times. HuffPost flagged his description of the encounter on X.
"@ZunyTarrio and I just had a great conversation with @POTUS," Tarrio posted. "He called me and my Mother over while we were at dinner and said he was sorry for what @JoeBiden did to all J6ers. He knew the hardships me and my family faced for 3 long years. He knew how many times they moved me. And he said he is working on making things right. I thanked him for giving me my life back. He replied with…I Love You guys."
"To the J6ers he wanted me to send yall a message… He said…Thank you," Tarrio added.
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Duarte said the president recognized her son's name, saying, "Oh, you're that guy," when they were introduced, and she said Trump was familiar with the names of his co-defendants in the sedition case.
Tarrio was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to the U.S. Capitol riot, although he was not present at the attack. He was released from a Louisiana prison after Trump pardoned all of the rioters and others related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
He was arrested again in February after Capitol police saw him hit a woman's arm after she put a cell phone close to his face during a gathering of Jan. 6 participants at the Capitol.