1776 Returns is the title of a document that outlined strategic plans for the takeover of US government buildings on January 6, 2021. It was circulated among the Proud Boys organization. [1] The nine-page document was sent to Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys, one week before the January 6 United States Capitol attack, by a Miami-based cryptocurrency promoter named Eryka Gemma Flores, who was romantically linked to Tarrio. [2] [3] [4] [5]
The document is nine pages long; it is undated and did not identify a specific author. [6] The document laid out a plan for the storming and occupation of eight key buildings (designated as "Targeted Buildings") in the District of Columbia on January 6, 2021. [6] [7] The target locations were the Russell, Dirksen, and Hart Senate office buildings; the U.S. Supreme Court Building; the Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn House office buildings; and the CNN's D.C. office building. [6] [1] The Capitol itself, which was the ultimate target of the January 6 insurrection, is not specifically included on the list of targeted buildings, [6] [1] but the document uses the phase "Storm the Winter Palace" as an apparent reference to the Capitol, [6] and the plan outlined by the document contains similarities to the actual attack on the Capitol on January 6. [1]
1776 Returns recommended that groups of at least 50 storm and occupy each buildings, [6] with a goal to fill buildings "with patriots and communicate our demands". [8] It set forth a five-stage strategy included a call for the mobilization of followers and seizure of government buildings: "infiltrate"; "execution"; "distract"; "occupy"; and "sit-in". [1] It suggested slogans to chant (such as "No Trump, No America") [1] and suggested that protesters should initially blend in to appear "unsuspecting" and to "not look tactical". [2] The document directed that the team responsible for assaulting each building should be led by a "lead"; a "second"; and a "hype man". [8]
A section titled the "Patriot Plan" was intended for public distribution, calling on people to gather at 1 p.m. on January 6 and await a signal to attack, [1] with a demand to nullify the elections results and have the military hold a new election. [8]
The author of 1776 Returns has not been confirmed. [5] However, Flores sent the document to Tarrio a week before the January 6 attacks. [9] After the attack, Flores agreed to an informal, untranscribed appearance in early 2022 with House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack investigators, in which she named Samuel Armes as the author of the document. [5] Armes, like Flores, is a cryptocurrency advocate. [5] January 6 Committee investigators interviewed Armes in July 2022. [5] He denied drafting the "1776 Returns" document [10] and claimed that Flores was "blame-shifting" by attributing authorship to him. [5] However, Flores acknowledged that in summer 2020, he drafted a "war gaming" plan and then shared it with Flores by Google Drive. [5] Armes told investigators that the document was between three and five pages and explored "a scenario where a certain president doesn't leave the White House or there is just mad chaos in the streets because no one knows who's in charge". [10] He indicated that he indirectly provided inspiration for the nine-page "1776 Returns" document; in the interview with investigators, he distinguished between "aspects that he said he had written from components he said he did not". [10] He said that he "never imagined that" what he had written would ultimately be "turned into" an operational plan to attack federal buildings. [10] In the interview, Armes said he had a slight acquaintance with Tarrio through their mutual friendship with Flores. [10]
Prosecutors later subpoenaed Flores to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Tarrio and the Proud Boys' role in the attacks; she refused to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. [5]
In all, more than 30 Proud Boys were charged with crimes in connection with the January 6 attack. [1] The "1776 Returns" document was one of many pieces of evidence in the trial of Tarrio and four lieutenants: Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. [10] It was cited in the indictment of defendants and in court filings. [10] [6] The existence of the document was first reported in March 2022 in the New York Times, and the full document became public in June 2022, when Rehl's attorneys submitted it as an exhibit to a motion asking for pretrial release. [6] In May 2023, following a lengthy trial, a jury convicted Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs, and Rehl guilty of seditious conspiracy, among other crimes; Pezzola was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other felonies. [11] During the trial, the prosecutors introduced text message correspondence between Flores and Tarrio, in which Flores touted her 1776 Returns document and wrote, "If you don't like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere. But I want you to be the executor and benefactor of my brilliance." [5] During his trial, Tarrio declined to testify in his own defense. [12] Outside court, however, Tarrio claimed he never opened or used the 1776 Returns document, [9] but records showed that Tarrio used the phrase "the Winter Palace" in discussions with his associate before and after January 6, [5] [9] and Tarrio did Google searches for "The Winter Palace" during that time. [9]
Oath Keepers is an American far-right anti-government militia whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of presidential power as prescribed by the United States constitution. It was incorporated in 2009 by founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer and former paratrooper. In 2023, Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, was sentenced to 12 years for the same crime. Three other members have pleaded guilty to this crime, and four other members have been convicted of it.
Seditious conspiracy is a crime in various jurisdictions of conspiring against the authority or legitimacy of the state. As a form of sedition, it has been described as a serious but lesser counterpart to treason, targeting activities that undermine the state without directly attacking it.
The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence. The group's leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the federal government of the United States, including its constitutionally prescribed transfer of presidential power. It has been called a street gang and was designated as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand. The Proud Boys are opposed to left-wing and progressive groups and support President Donald Trump. While Proud Boys leadership has denied being a white supremacist organization, the group and some of its members have been connected to white supremacist events, ideologies, and other white-power groups throughout its existence.
Timothy James Kelly is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and former chief counsel for national security and senior crime counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Henry "Enrique" Tarrio is an American convicted seditionist and far-right activist. From 2018 to 2021, he was the chairman of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States. Along with three other Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. In September 2023, Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison, before being pardoned by U.S. president Donald Trump following his return to office on January 20, 2025.
Joseph Randall Biggs is an American veteran, media personality, organizer of the Proud Boys, and convicted felon who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then-president Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep him in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of the president-elect Joe Biden. The attack was unsuccessful in preventing the certification of the election results. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election. Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by the Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer who died of natural causes a day after being assaulted by rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million.
Ethan Nordean, also known as Rufio Panman, is an American far-right political activist, convicted felon and a leader of the Proud Boys, an all-male neo-fascist organization that engages in political violence.
Dominic Pezzola is an American convicted felon and member of the Proud Boys who participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, a violent attack at the U.S. Capitol. On January 20, 2025, President Trump commuted his sentence to time served. He is best known for stealing a police riot shield and using it to break a Capitol window on January 6, 2021, making him the first rioter to breach the building. Indicted in 2021, on federal charges, he was tried in 2023 alongside Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and his key lieutenants, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. In May 2023, following a five-month jury trial, Pezzola was convicted of obstructing a congressional proceeding, assaulting a police officer, and other crimes. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge. The jury deadlocked on other charges against Pezzola, including conspiring to obstruct the counting of the electoral votes.
The investigation of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol building was the largest criminal probe in U.S. history. Four years after the attack, everyone involved received clemency from President Donald Trump.
Since its foundation in 2016, members of the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization, have been involved in a number controversial and violent events. This list contains a number of those events, some of which have resulted in criminal charges being filed against participants.
Corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding is a felony under U.S. federal law. It was enacted as part of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 in reaction to the Enron scandal, and closed a legal loophole on who could be charged with evidence tampering by defining the new crime very broadly.
Kelly Meggs is an American convicted felon who previously led the Oath Keepers' Florida chapter. He was found guilty of seditious conspiracy following his forced entry into the United States Capitol during the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Meggs was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Hours after his inauguration on 20 January 2025, Donald Trump commuted his sentence to time served. On January 24, 2025, he and seven others Oath Keepers were forbidden by the D.C. District Court from entering Washington D.C or the grounds of the Capitol without the permission of the court order.
Jeremy Bertino is an American former member of the Proud Boys who testified against Enrique Tarrio during his trial for seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. Bertino was the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to the same charge. On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump commuted his sentence to "time served".
Jessica Marie Watkins is a transgender American militia founder and former Oath Keeper leader, Army veteran and bar owner who took part in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. She was convicted of multiple felonies relating to her participation and in May 2023 was sentenced to 8.5 years in federal prison. On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump commuted her sentence to "time served".
Roberto Antonio Minuta is a tattoo artist and a member of the Oath Keepers, who in 2023 was found guilty of seditious conspiracy after forcing his way into the United States Capitol building during the January 6 United States Capitol attack in 2021.
After Donald Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election, multiple individuals plotted to use force to stop the peaceful transition of power; this was one aspect of what eventually led to the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
Ryan Stephen Samsel participated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack. He was charged with several crimes, including forcibly assaulting federal officers; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; carrying out an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds; and obstruction of an official proceeding—the United States Congress’s efforts to certify the election results. Samsel was in custody since his arrest; his bench trial began in October 2023. In February 2024, he was found guilty.
Norm Pattis is an American defense lawyer and former columnist who runs a law firm in New Haven, Connecticut. He is known for defending controversial clientele, including radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, January 6 rioters Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl, and the (alleged) murderer of Jennifer Dulos, Fotis Dulos. In 2023, Pattis' law license was suspended for six months in Connecticut in relation to a violation of a court order in the Alex Jones case, but the suspension was overturned in 2024.
On January 20, 2025, during the first day of his second term, United States president Donald Trump issued a proclamation that granted clemency to about 1,200 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6 United States Capitol attack that occurred near the end of his first presidential term.
'If you don't like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere,' Flores texted Tarrio, according to evidence shown in the trial ... Flores, who has not been charged in the case, was described by one witness as a former girlfriend of Tarrio's.