‘We’ve suffered long enough’: Mother of Proud Boys leader asks Trump to pardon her son serving 22-year sentence for Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

Left: President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file). Right: Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys demonstrate near Freedom Plaza during the Million Maga March protest regarding election results on November 14, 2020 in Washington D.C. (Chris Tuite/imageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX). Inset: Zuny Tarrio (WTVJ).

The mother of the Proud Boys leader who helped orchestrate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol went on television to ask President-elect Donald Trump to pardon her son from his 22-year sentence.

Enrique Tarrio was not in Washington D.C. that day but prosecutors argued he was one of the chief architects of the riot as he was the head of the Proud Boys who led the assault on the Capitol. A jury agreed, convicting him of seditious conspiracy, and a judge handed out the longest sentence of any of the Jan. 6 defendants. Now with Trump set to take office next year, many of the imprisoned rioters are hoping he issues them pardons as he said he would while on the campaign trail.

More from Law&Crime: ‘These assertions defy credulity’: Capitol Police officers using KKK Act to sue Trump over Jan. 6 push to unseal Jack Smith grand jury materials

In an interview with South Florida NBC affiliate WTVJ, Tarrio’s mother Zuny Tarrio spoke directly to Trump.

“President Trump, I think my son and most of those J6, if not all, deserve to be home with their families,” she said. “We’ve suffered long enough.”

She said while the riot was unfortunate, the “government” should have prevented it before it happened.

“I don’t think anyone honestly likes what happened January 6th,” Zuny Tarrio said. “I think the way that it happened, shouldn’t have happened. I think the government could have stopped that in a lot of ways.”

At least five police officers who engaged with the violent mob died after Jan. 6. Dozens more were injured. Zuny Tarrio said when officers took an oath “there’s no guarantees of what happens when you do a job like that.” She also said the idea that her son was a leader of the riot is “far-fetched” because people who weren’t Proud Boys also committed violence.

“Enrique Tarrio wasn’t even there that day. He was not on the [Capitol] grounds,” she said. “He was not in Washington D.C. that day.”

She described the last few years with her son in prison as “horrific.”

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