Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Terrio returned home to Miami on Wednesday, two days after being released from a federal prison after President Donald Trump pardoned him and more than 1,500 of the Jan. 6 rioters.
Wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, Tario was greeted by a cavalcade of family, friends and journalists after landing.
“I think I love my family,” Tario said before driving off in a black SUV.
Earlier, before boarding his flight, Tario told reporters at Dallas Love Field Airport that his January 6, 2021, conviction for treason in connection with the capital attack was a “miscarriage of justice.”
“If we had gotten a fair trial, I wouldn’t have been in a position where I needed a pardon.” told a CBS News reporter.
One of four members of the far-right group who were found guilty of plotting a coup in May 2023, Tario was sentenced to 22 years in prison – the longest sentence on January 6 – although he was extradited to Washington for the attack. I wasn’t.
Terrio, who was arrested and ordered to stay away from the capitol, was convicted of planning and organizing the Pride Boys attack on the capitol to prevent the confirmation of Biden’s election as president. was given
Earlier this month, his lawyer, Naib Hasan, wrote a letter to Trump on the fourth anniversary of the attack calling for a “full and complete presidential pardon.”
Hasan called Tario, 42, “a young man with a promising future” who was “presented throughout the government as a right-wing extremist who promoted a neo-fascist militant organization.” “
But Tario, according to Hassan, is “nothing more than a proud American who believes in true conservative values.”
Trump, who has consistently made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him, made pardoning rioters a major campaign theme and began referring to them as “hostages.”
And in one of his first acts as president, Trump commuted the sentences of those associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who had been convicted of plotting treason.
Trump then issued “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of crimes related to the events that occurred in or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
These individuals included those who assaulted law enforcement officials.
Tario was released late Monday from FCI Pollock, a medium-security federal prison in Louisiana, after his family forgave him. It was not immediately clear why it took two days for him to arrive home.
