WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was pardoned by Donald Trump for his conviction related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, said he met with the president over the weekend in Florida.
Tarrio posted about the meeting on his X account Sunday morning.
“Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting the President of the United States, a moment I never could have imagined in my darkest days,” Tarrio wrote.
In other posts, he said he was at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s club, and that he had a “great conversation” with the president after Trump called him and his mother over during dinner.
A White House official said the meeting was not planned; rather, Tarrio had been at the club to dine with a member, who introduced him to Trump. The two had a “brief exchange” as the president walked to his table for dinner, said the official who was granted anonymity to discuss a private encounter.
Tarrio responded to messages seeking comment about the meeting.
A federal jury convicted Tarrio and three lieutenants of seditious conspiracy for a failed plot to keep Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Tarrio was serving a 22-year prison sentence, the longest of any Capitol riot case, before Trump pardoned him. He was in prison for about three years.
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C, when Proud Boys members stormed the Capitol with a mob of Trump supporters. But prosecutors said the Miami resident organized and led the far-right extremist group’s assault from afar.
Trump has defended the clemency actions he took on his first day returning to office. He pardoned roughly 1,500 people who were involved in the siege at the Capitol by his angry supporters. He also suggested there could be a place in American politics for the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, the extremists groups whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the U.S.
Before the Capitol attack, the Proud Boys were best known for street fights with anti-fascist activists at time when Trump told the group to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate in 2020 with then-presidential candidate Biden.
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Associated Press writer Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.
