Proud Boy Wants Answers From Ron DeSantis

Proud Boys members want to know if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential candidate, would pardon their criminal charges if he was elected in 2024.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump, during his CNN town hall last week, called January 6 a "beautiful day" and praised what he deemed as the "largest crowd" he has addressed. He told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that he would look into issuing full pardons for Proud Boys and other rioters who have been criminally charged for their roles.

Trump has continued to defend the actions of those who participated in riots in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, even as he is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith for his direct role in the entire ordeal.

Proud Boy Joseph Biggs, who was recently convicted of seditious conspiracy, in a new jailhouse phone call reportedly called on supporters of Capitol attack defendants to nail down DeSantis on whether he'll pardon them, according to NBC News' Ryan Reilly.

Biggs, along with the Proud Boys' former leader, Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl, were all found guilty of seditious conspiracy—a rare charge that can lead to 20 years behind bars.

A jury was divided on whether another member, Dominic Pezzola, was guilty of seditious conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding member.

Reilly reported that in his own call from jail, Pezzola said supporters of January 6 defendants should "vote for Trump" due to fears about further alleged fraud occurring in 2024.

"Get out there and watch your polls," Pezzola said. "I believe 2024 is make it or break it point for our county [sic]."

DeSantis initially condemned the actions of January 6 participants.

"Violence or rioting of any kind is unacceptable, and the perpetrators must face the full weight of the law," he said on the day it occurred, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

He repeated a similar message the following day, calling it "totally unacceptable" while supporting accountability for those involved.

DeSantis expressed a different tone on the one-year anniversary of the event, calling it "Christmas" for "D.C.-New York Media." He said the comparisons to September 11 were "insulting".

"They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump," DeSantis said at a news conference in January 2022.

"I can't believe that we're in a situation where we're having real campaign strategy conversations about how presidential candidates can avoid offending the Proud Boys," Adam Cayton, a government professor at the University of West Florida, told Newsweek via phone. "It's just mind-boggling...It's pretty out of the ordinary to see people evaluating candidates in advance of elections to see which one would pardon them. Not saying it's never happened, but it's pretty new. I don't know how [DeSantis] plays that."

Republican Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who is weighing his own presidential run, chastised Trump following comments he made in January 2022 about pardoning individuals involved in the riot.

"The folks that were part of the riots and, frankly, the assault on the U.S. Capitol, have to be held accountable," Sununu told CNN's Dana Bash on State of the Union in January 2022. "There is a rule of law.

"I don't care whether you were part of burning cities in Antifa in 2020 or storming the Capitol in 2021, everybody needs to be held fairly accountable."

Newsweek reached out via email to DeSantis' office for comment.

Update 05/15/23, 4:01 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Adam Cayton.