This is going to be interesting. LOL. By "interesting" I mean one pathetic group of losers trying to rely on the lies of another loser for their defense.
If Trumpy cares so much about these "patriots" he will surely comply right?
I mean, he could have stood up for them already (but didn't). He could have pardoned all them (but didn't.) He could have used the money he grifted from their actions and "defense fund" to pay their legal fees (but didn't). But... but... he did do something right? Oh yeah, he pardoned Steve Bannon who ripped off his supporters and "patriots". Apparently Trumpy is more dangerous to his supporters than he is to other people who oppose him.
Maybe Trumpy only likes patriots who don't get caught.
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Proud Boys defendants plan to subpoena Trump to force him to testify in their January 6 riot trial.
Lawyers for Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other defendants plan to subpoena former President Donald Trump, seeking his testimony in the high-profile trial that charges the far-right group's members with conspiring to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's 2020 win on January 6, 2021.
"Donald Trump called on patriots to stop the steal. We're calling on Donald Trump to take the stand," Norm Pattis, an attorney representing Proud Boys member Joseph Biggs, said Thursday.
Forcing Trump to testify as a witness would require approval from Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee presiding over the case in Washington, DC's federal district court. Proud Boys' lawyers are seeking the federal government's help to serve the subpoena, according to Politico.
For more than a month, the Justice Department has argued that the defendants — Tarrio, Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola — plotted to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Biden on January 6. Prosecutors claimed that under Tarrio's leadership, the group banded together to violently storm the Capitol and obstruct the 2020 electoral certification process — a serious and rare charge known as seditious conspiracy. The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors have said that Proud Boys' members responded to Trump's calls to his supporters to "protest" on January 6 when Congress met to certify the results.
In response, defense lawyers at times have blamed Trump for the attack on the Capitol, asserting that the Proud Boys had followed the former president's orders to come to the nation's capital in support of his false claims that the election was stolen because of widespread voter fraud.
The strategy behind Trump testifying would be to try to show jurors that the former president was responsible for the violent riot, rather than the Proud Boys members.
It's a line of argument that several January 6 defendants have presented in court before, though largely unsuccessfully. Judges have repeatedly dismissed the claim, maintaining that Capitol rioters should be held accountable for the violence that erupted that day. One January 6 defendant, Dustin Thompson of Ohio, requested in his trial last year to subpoena Trump as a witness, though the judge declined his bid. Thompson was later convicted on six charges related to the Capitol riot and sentenced to three years in prison.
Although the Proud Boys' trial is unique from the majority of January 6 cases because of the government's seditious-conspiracy charges, it's currently unclear whether Kelly would allow the subpoena.
Even if the subpoena is issued, however, the possibility of Trump appearing in court is slim. His lawyers are likely to move to prevent Trump from speaking under oath about January 6. The former president has never taken any responsibility for the attack.
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