but this is where tarrio's passion apparently helped him. out, back then, tarrio had probably, unbeknownst to many of his proud boys, been a passionate informant for federal and local law enforcement. according to reuters, tarrio's own attorney labeled him a, quote, prolific cooperator. the reuters story details how an fbi agent told the court that tarrio was a, quote, key component in helping with investigations for marijuana to cocaine and ecstasy, and helped in the prosecution of more than a dozen people. now, because of tarrio's history of helping law enforcement, his attorney was able to convince the judge to shave 14 months off of his sentence. back in 2014, when reuters asked tarrio about being an informant, he denied it and he told them, quote, i don't know any of this end quote. when he was then confronted with court transcripts that confirm his role as an informant, tarrio said, i don't recall any of this. he doesn't seem so proud of that. he did show another kind of passion at his sentencing hearing for seditious conspiracy. he se

police say that enrique tarrio took part in the melee and was later arrested on vandalism charges.responding to the judge's ruling, saying, quote, this organization masquerading as a church must be subjected to a thorough audit and its nonprofit status revoked immediately. i want to bring in william h. lamar the fourth. he is the pastor at the metropolitan ame church. reverend, thank you for joining me this evening. you have called that decision by the judge a victory and said it was karmic. what do you mean? >> i mean that the very thought that they assumed that they could do violence to our sacred space and that it would go, first of all, unanswered, that we would allow that to stand. these are persons who have no clue about who we have been in this nation from the very beginning. we have resisted, we have fought, and we have sought to create democracy in this space. we've been undeterred. we've been unrelenting. and still in this moment, we're undeterred and unrelenting. and we will never let that type of violence stand. i think that even to hear what he said today, it is not to

you know that passionate man is enrique tarrio. >> he is the former leader of the proud boys. he was given 22 years behind bars for seditious conspiracy until, of course, he received a pardon. others, like the guy who sat behind nancy pelosi's desk, isn't thinking about his linkedin page, but rather his legacy. >> i hope we were the first line. >> that drove us to the to the to the goal. and i believe in my heart we were i have no regrets. >> for the what the third or fourth time in this hour. what is going on? what is going on? that a man, enrique tarrio, who part of what he was accused of doing is basically organizing an armed insurrection against the government. i mean. >> you got to keep you. >> got to keep your name in the news because that's literally and i should have looked it up to see where he lives, because at the end of the day, voters have to actually vote for him. and i just can't imagine. >> i depending on where he lives. >> lots of places in this. >> country where there are some districts. >> in florida which are not open seats, that he could get elected. he co

enrique tarrio pardon? now, though, is a convicted felon.ho helped put him in prison, and now he's defaming her. and, you know, her name was out there because she testified in a public trial, but he is accusing her of without evidence of manufacturing evidence of committing perjury and saying that she needs to be held accountable. and it's not just enrique tarrio saying that very prominent advisers to donald trump legal advisers have been saying such things. that's the climate we're in right now. and that is exactly what these fbi agent associations and these lawsuits are trying to fight against. >> ken, thank you so much. keep up the good reporting, michael. you wrote a letter to congressional leaders to raise urgent concerns about the doj's actions, saying they threaten the careers of thousands of fbi agents. what kind of threat do these agents face? >> well. >> there's. >> multiple threats. >> on it. the first. >> threat, which is on every. agent's mind. >> and also. >> it's not just agents, it's analysts. >> and anyone. >> who worked on

the fbi agents now anticipate, including proud boys, so-called proud boys leader enrique enrique tarrioquaglin, who assaulted police with chemical spray. joining us now is christopher mattei. he's one of the attorneys representing the federal bureau of investigation agents association in their lawsuit against the trump justice department. thank you very much for joining us tonight. how many plaintiffs are represented by these lawsuits? well. >> the. >> fbi agents association. >> represents some. >> 14,000 current and former agents. we have brought this lawsuit on behalf of our membership, and obviously, all of the active fbi personnel who may be exposed as a result of the disclosure of these names. and then there are several individuals who have brought lawsuits anonymously, who are represented by separate counsel to vindicate their own interests. >> so and procedurally, are you asking for an injunction, some action that will block what's happening? >> yeah. we've moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent the justice department from disseminating the names and identities of the

enrique tarrio, the founder of the proud boys and the leader of the proud boys, said after. >> his releasechansley, the former the qanon shaman that's sort of iconic in so many images from january 6th, said on his release that he was going to buy guns and another person associated with january 6th said that not only would he attack the capitol again, he would form a militia. >> for president trump. >> and he. >> would die for. >> president trump. so i think it's almost a certainty that this sort of vigilante or militia violence is in. >> our future. wow. and that's saying something because you've been in it and you've dealt with these cases, you know, things many people don't even know from from that process. as for the doj where you worked? i want to show pam bondi, who disclaimed the talk of an enemies list that's been attributed to trump's fbi pick and his far more sort of broad or evasive answer. >> there will. >> never be an enemies list within the. >> department of justice. >> when trump wins in. >> 2024 and is in power in 2025, we. can prosecute them. >> you're reading a partial sta

the then leader of the group, enrique tarrio, confessing to the vandalism and he was later sentencedand other charges. finally, this monday, after the proud boys defaulted on a nearly $3 million judgment, the church was awarded the proud boys trademark and any money that is made from selling the group's merchandise. joining me now is reverend william h. lamar, the fourth, the pastor at metropolitan african methodist episcopal church. sir, it is an honor to have you here. you know, when we spoke previously. yes, it's a legal victory. and i think it's important that this judgment has been entered and you guys now have the control of the trademark. but when i shared this news on my social, people were really happy because they felt like it was good news to see that the rule of law still works and that justice can still be achieved. your thoughts about the symbolism of your black church having the trademark now, and controlling the trademark of the proud boys? >> katie, thank you for allowing. >> me to share. >> our story. it is. >> a karmic victory. >> it is the justice that we have. so

enrique tarrio. >> recently pardoned. >> him. >> issued a. social media statement on x. >> i believe. with the. >> name of. >> the female fbi agent. who he accuses. of various nefarious crimes and says that she should. be arrested. >> and. put in jail. >> and bringing all. >> kinds of social. >> pressure on her. >> he has not. >> done anything. to try to. insulate the fbi agents who've come under attack. by all of the proud. boys and oath keepers and three percenters and. violent insurrectionists. so that. >> guy is. >> a j. six enthusiast. he's aj6 lawyer, and he's. >> doing. everything in his. >> power to exact retaliation against the federal prosecutors and the fbi agents and the cops who simply did. >> their. >> jobs for america. >> you know, i still recall, and it's still seared in my mind, ruby freeman and shay moss saying that you can't describe the feeling of your federal government coming after you and training the entire awesome power of the white house on you as just an individual person. what we have now is the u.s. attorney from

>> well, enrique tarrio, who's a leader of the proud boys, has posted online, i think this morning the name of an fbi agent demanding her investigation and her arrest for various imaginary crimes. he thinks that she has committed. so we're in a situation now where the pardoned criminals believe that they've got more power, and they're probably right with the new government, then fbi agents, then law enforcement officials, and then prosecutors, and they want a complete purge of the government to bring everybody directly under maga control. >> let me i could keep talking to you about this, but i want to ask you just about because i've been thinking about it constantly since the news broke about the treasury secretary giving access to elon musk's dodge team to the federal payment system, where social security checks are given out, irs refunds are given out. there's personal information in there. this is a topic i have a lot of friends saying. what does this mean? what does this mean? what should people understand about what it means? and is there anything congress can do to prevent that?

january 6th offenders going online, including a post you referenced from proud boys founder enrique tarriots experienced problems harassment as a result of this yet? >> well, we represent the fbi agents association, so that's some 14,000 members and current and former members of the fbi. and it is, in a sense, part of the job, when you're in law enforcement, to have to deal with dangerous people. but we shouldn't have to deal with being hung out to dry by our own government. and so what we are really hoping is that the new leadership at the justice department assures us, and hopefully that will happen in court tomorrow. we would like nothing more than for the department of justice lawyers to come in tomorrow and say to the court that the department of justice is not going to be publicly identifying any agents, that there won't be any disciplinary proceedings other than the normal disciplinary proceedings, and we can move past this, but we are not going to allow agents of the fbi to be targeted and be the subjects of political retribution simply for having done their jobs. >> i'm sure you k

we saw over time that day and in the days after, leaders like enrique tarrio convicted of some of themilitia leaders and others do what they did. the federal government ultimately responding with one of the largest probes ever, bringing those people to trial, many of them convicted. they're now all freed, every last one of them by donald trump. veteran agents say that given that history which we just lived through and these newly immunized, freed federal convicts, these agents, their families now placed in immediate danger of potentially illegal retribution by the now pardoned january 6th convicted felons. that's reuters, quoting some of the statement. what we were talking about is fbi agents who aren't exactly known for being completely paranoid, nervous types who've never faced down a threat before taking it to this measure, because they are concerned that these individuals who were violent before will be violent again, will try to hurt, attack, stab, shoot, or murder them and their families. there's also a new directive by a judge that bars the federal government. so doj and any ot

multiple january 6th cases or who were involved in the most high profile cases against, say, enrique tarriorhodes, and is going to try to fire them. now. it's illegal to fire an fbi agent without cause. and they have they have recourse. they can go to the merit systems protection board, they can go to court, but that won't matter if their badge is taken away and they're escorted out of their field office. and that is the great fear right now within the fbi. >> all right, ken dilanian, thank you very much. and now, another story that i think you probably have heard about. marco ellis, a 25 year old former spacex and ex employee who joined elon musk's doge team, resigned last night after the wall street journal uncovered an old social media account with pretty racist posts. things like i was racist before it was cool, normalize indian hate, and i would not mind at all if both gaza and israel were wiped off the face of the earth. but now, in just the last few minutes, elon musk said in a social media post that he's going to rehire lies after vice president j.d. vance announced his support for

they also cite the leader of the proud boys, enrique tarrio, singling out an fbi agent for retaliation. their suit includes this dire warning quote in addition to being unlawful, a mass unlawful firing of 6000 fbi employees would be catastrophic to national security. fbi agents trying to draw a line in the sand against a possible purge that would put them in danger is where we start today. here, for his first ever television interview, michael clarke. he's president of the society of former special agents of the fbi, one of the groups pleading with congress to take action. also back with us, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi. msnbc senior national security analyst frank figliuzzi. and with me at the table once again, former top official at the department of justice. msnbc legal analyst andrew weissmann. i appreciate all of you being here. i imagine this isn't the most comfortable time to be speaking out, but it is perhaps the most important time. so let me start with that. thanks. michael clarke, just just tell me what's happening right now inside the fbi. >>