The Justice Department dropped a felony obstruction charge against five Proud Boys, who are facing a criminal trial in September over their actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Biden administration’s decision to drop the charge comes after the Supreme Court ruled that federal prosecutors can’t use an obstruction statute originally aimed at the destruction of evidence to nab Jan. 6 rioters who disrupted Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results.

A dark SUV cruised past former President Donald Trump’s supporters near his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on a windy April afternoon. Billowing from the vehicle were three flags: one for the Trump campaign, two others with the initials “PB” – the insignia of the far-right Proud Boys movement.

Responding to news that the former national leader of the Proud Boys was sentenced to 22 years for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “despicable” and commented: “We are witnessing a communist takeover of our judicial system to target political enemies.”

But Enrique Tarrio was found guilty by a jury, and the judge who sentenced him on Sept. 5 was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Though five of their leaders have been sentenced to a combined 82 years in prison over their seditious plot to overturn an election, the Proud Boys aren’t going away.

Enrique Tarrio, former chairman of the militant far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday after previously being convicted of seditious conspiracy in the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Tarrio was found guilty of seditious conspiracy by a jury in Washington, D.C., alongside three other leaders of the Proud Boys. The others were each sentenced to between 15 and 18 years.

The Department of Justice sought more than three decades for Tarrio, characterizing him as the ringleader of violent protesters. He was also ordered to 36 months of probation at the end of his sentence. 

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former chairman of the violent neo-fascist gang the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack.

A former chairman of the right-wing Proud Boys group was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to overturn the former president's election defeat.

Enrique Tarrio was convicted of charges, including seditious conspiracy, for his role in planning the storming of the Capitol, when thousands of supporters of the Republican then-U.S. president violently tried to stop Congress from certifying the results of an election that Trump falsely claimed had widespread fraud.