capitol when dominic pezzola has that stolen police shield in his hands and is using it to break open the window during the initial breach of the capitol that day. but you can see the logic in the jury's decision there in terms of why they found these four other members guilty of seditious conspiracy but not dominic pezzola, himself. sort of as you alluded to, the biggest thing here is that now the justice department has secured a verdict in a seditious conspiracy trial against someone who was not actually at the capitol. enrique tarrio was at a hotel on january 6th, which is just a little bit further from the capitol than 1600 pennsylvania avenue where donald trump was on january 6th. so, you know, this is something that could have broader implications for the jack smith investigation in terms of being able to convince a jury that an individual was part of a conspiracy that involved breaking into the u.s. capitol even though they weren't themselves at the u.s. capitol that day. >> and we were just showing that video of dominic pezzola that you were talking about. using the police shi

what happened with the other seditious conspiracy charge against dominic pezzola. erson that is very visibly part of the story of the day of january 6th. he had -- he's seen in many images, in video, in photos breaking a window, in this case, he was accused of ripping a riot shield away from a police officer and then taking it to bash into a window in the back side of the capitol building at a time when the crowd had sort of settled down, the police were basically getting their line regrouped, and pezzola was able to get them in leading others into the building. jim. >> a big day there, and katelyn, we have just gotten word that the jury is back in the courtroom, another verdict -- another part of this verdict is going to be read, so we are going to let you go so that you can see what is going to happen there and report back to us. i do want to bring in former federal prosecutor renato mariati to talk a little bit about what we just heard from katelyn. renato, what do you think about this? and obviously there are so many charges at play here, the jury able to make a

the jury today also convicting a key foot soldier, proud boys dominic pezzola who was seen in that infamous video using a stolen police shield to smash through a window. pezzola found guilty of a number of felonies including obstructing a congressional proceeding and assaulting officers, but acquitted on seditious conspiracy. the proud boys were tied to donald trump long before january 6th. the ranks only surged when trump called them out by name at a debate. >> proud boys, stand back and stand by. >> reporter: the group portrayed themselves as heart drinkers with no master plan who got swept up in the moment. attorneys for the defendants instead blamed trump pointing to his own words that day. >> we fight like hell. if you don't fight like hell you will not have a country anymore. >> reporter: the leaders of the proud boys potentially face decades in prison joining the leaders of the oath keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy last fall for their role on january 6. david? >> pierre thomas on both of these trials. thank you. >>> news coming in tonight. police in california have arrested

dominic pezzola wasn't as involved as a number of the other defendants were in this case. are while he used that shield and was part of this that day and communicated with some of the proud boys, he was not as deeply involved in the proud boys and only joined the proud boys shortly before they ended up storming the capitol. this was sort of a last minute decision for him to even come down. i think his father-in-law tried to convince him out of it. he has a family at home. he was a floor installer and had a business going that was being shut down during covid, and his family really didn't want him to go down. ultimately, he did make the decision to go down, and was in fact one of the first people to break through that barrier. when thinking about how juries are looking through this, reading it can be very difficult, but there is some logic to that that you can follow from the jury here. they had no trouble with these broader counts reaching on that charge of seditious conspiracy against enrique tarrio which i thought was the one they were going to be having a bit of trouble

in this case, i think what they saw is that the individual, dominic pezzola, who smashed that windowwithout stolen police shield, he wasn't in communication with so many of the other proud boys as much as the other members of this conspiracy work. and in fact, he only joined the proud boys pretty late in the game. only a few weeks before january 6th. itself. so, there's definitely a logic to it here, but, you know, definitely the takeaway for me and the dominick, or rather, in and re-guitar goes case, is that you now have someone who was at a baltimore hotel, who was off scene, who wasn't at the united states capitol, who's now being convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the capitol. and, you know, that baltimore hotel is a lot further away from the capital than 1600 pennsylvania avenue. so, i think that's definitely something that we're going to see some broader implications for him because now it's been proven that you can, in fact, get a guilty verdict from a d. c. jury on a charge involving somebody who was not actually physically at the united states

a fifth member, dominic pezzola was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but was convicted on other felony charges. attorney general, merrick garland spoke about the verdict late today. >> the evidence presented a at trial detailed the extent of the violence of the capitol on january six. and the central role of these defendants played in setting into motion the unlawful events of that day. today's verdict makes clear that the justice department will do everything in its power to defend the american people an american democracy. >> meanwhile, president biden is just five days away from that big meeting with congressional leaders about the debt ceiling. today an alarming new warning from one of his top intelligence officials about what could happen if the u.s. were to go into default. >> generally, both russia and china would look to perceive a -- sort of narrate information operation such as an event as demonstrating the chaos within the united states that we are not capable as functioning as a democracy. >> also, tonight, we are following brand-new reporting from propublica about supreme

a fifth defendant, a man named dominic pezzola, who you may recognize from some of that generous footage, was acquitted of the conspiracy charge, although he was convicted of multiple other federal offenses. this is now the third seditious conspiracy trial to secure the convictions of right-wing gang members related to the january 6th insurrection. nine members of the fringe extremist group known as the oath keepers were either convicted or plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in two previous cases. it is difficult to overstate how rare these kinds of convictions are. it's really unusual for prosecutors to even bring charges of seditious conspiracy. it is even more unusual for them to successfully prosecute the cases. the government has not successfully prosecuted a case like this before january 6th since the early 1990s. and the last time the government even tried, prior to january 6th, was back in the early 2010s, when they tried a group of anti-government militia members who call themselves the who tyre. >> the fbi, along with local police and other federal agents, swoop down in force

the fifth, dominic pezzola, who used a police riot shield to smash a capitol window and lead riotersed of obstructing an official proceeding. >> i promised that the justice department would do everything in its power to hold accountable those responsible for the heinous attack. >> reporter: tarrio, a onetime aide to trump ally roger stone, was found guilty even though he wasn't even in washington on the 6th, directing his colleagues remotely from a baltimore hotel. that night he messaged them tel. "make no mistake. we did this." legal experts say tarrio's conviction in particular will impact special counsel jack smith's probe into donald trump. >> it also will serve to empower the special counsel as he further investigates and potentially indicts others who may be responsible for the other schemes to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election. >> reporter: during the trial, prosecutors linked the proud boys to former president trump, playing this clip from a 2020 presidential debate. >> proud boys, stand back and stand by. >> that moment changed my lif

a fifth member, dominic pezzola, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy.and the others were convicted of obstruction and destruction of property. attorney general merrick garland spoke about the justice department's victory earlier today. >> the department has secured more than 600 convictions for a wide range of criminal conduct on january 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. we have secured the convictions of defendants who fought, punched, tackled, and even tased police officers who were defending the capitol that day. amna: npr's national justice correspondent carrie johnson has been following all of this closely from the courtroom. let's begin with the sedition conviction. what did prosecutors argue they did and how did they prove the case? reporter: they argued the men lined up as a fighting force for donald trump and agreed to do everything they could, including force, to keep trump in power and basically over -- overturn the results of the election. that presidential debate where trump asked the proud boys to stand back but

a fifth proud boy, dominic pezzola, was found not guilty of sedition but he was convicted with the othersrous felonies including obstructing an official proceeding and obstructing congress. during two previous trials six members of another far-right group, the oath keepers, were also convicted of sedition. the verdicts are seen as a major victory for the justice department. attorney general merrick garland spoke on thursday. >> today's verdict makes clear that the justice department will do everything in its power to defend the american people and american democracy. the the past two years, the department has secured more than 600 convictions for a wide range of criminal conduct on january 6, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. and now, after three trials, we have secured the convictions of leaders of both proud boys and the oath keepers for seditious conspiracy. specifically, conspiring to oppose by force a lawful transfer of presidential power. our work will continue. amy: during the trial, federal prosecutors described the proud boys as donald trump's army, sayin

the thing i found very interesting and also somewhat surprising is that dominic pezzola is the one person they did not find guilty of seditious conspiracy, but we have seen numerous pictures and videos of him breaking into the capitol with a police officer's shield. he's been convicted in other things and for other things but not seditious conspiracy, and i think that may be because four of the five were leaders. they were in leadership. >> and when you were talking about plots, that matters. sara, i do want to play a little bit of your conversation with tarrio before all of this. listen. >> i'm not going to cry abouta group of people that don't give a crap about their constituents. i'm not going to sympathize with them. i was celebrating, and i'll tell you, i'll celebrate the moment that the government does fear the people, but i think -- >> do you wish that you didn't do that now that you know what happened? >> another thing is i'll never regret something that i said. >> it's so significant for the justice department, this is not just a moral victory. it's a really important legal one,

dominic pezzola says, quote, nothing got fixed since the 2020 election and he thinks the 2024 electionolen by fraud. quote, get out there and watch your polls, pezzola said. i believe 2024 is make it or break it. the ludicrous thing you warn about and joke about when you're not on tv has become the news story that you have to read on tv. >> and in some ways it's even worse than all of this because to mary's point one of the things we've seen happen has been the mainstreaming of these attitudes. and i'm really glad you are focusing on the anniversary of what happened in buffalo. because the buffalo mass murderer put out a lengthy manifesto in which he talked about the great replacement theory. and i would urge people to put side by side what the buffalo shooter about the great replacement theory, side by side with what tucker carlson was putting out on the air on a regular basis. what had happened was many of these ideas that were just on the fringes of the most extreme militant groups have now become talking points that are acceptable. i remember at the time people were pointing out th

the criminal conduct and said they should be found guilty of a certain charge in the case of dominic pezzolae he is bashing in the window during the breach of the capitol. he may have tried to fall on the sword during his testimony and say the others shouldn't be held accountable for what he did, but i think jurors might be -- be able to see through that. in all honesty, if i were in the jury room i would be looking the closest at the evidence against enrique tarrio. some of the other defendants on the ground and took part in this attack a it's easier for them to settle the seditious conspiracy charge against those defendants but the enrique tarrio one is tricker. he was in a baltimore hotel on january 6th, arrested in connection with another event before the attack. and you know, what prosecutors had to end up sort of closing with is make it a spectacle. that's what they came out with. enrique tarrio said make ate spectacle. in terms of him directing them to go inside the capitol or attack the capitol i would imagine that's something that jurors are going to be looking at very closely what

dominic pezolla. he did steal a price rye tiot shield, using it to break a window rioters used to enter the capitol. the jury found pezzola guilty of other crimes. having been arrested two days earlier and ordered to leave the city but messages presented by prosecutors suggest tarrio was readying for a revolution and helped create a command structure within the group in the run up to the capitol insurrection. make no mistake, tarrio told other proud boys on january 6th, we did this. now there were a number of other charges where the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. on those charges the judge declared a mistrial. when it comes to these five men, they are all facing potentially lengthy prison sentences. >> years and years in prison potentially. sara murray, thank you very much. >>> let's bring in our other correspondents and experts who have been following this trial. laura coates, i'll start with you. just how significant is it for the u.s. justice department to sq secure more convictions on this seditious conspiracy felony charge? >> this is extraordinarily significant. remember how long it's been since the unite