Proud Boys defense puts on a show, for those inside court and out

Asking an FBI agent to name cereals. Making wild claims of government plots and executions. Near daily, calling for a mistrial.

As the federal seditious conspiracy trial of top members of the Proud Boys group grinds into its third month, attorneys for some of the five men have often turned what the Justice Department sees as a deadly serious proceeding into a farce.

The moves have succeeded at chopping up and slowing down the government’s presentation. They have also appealed to an audience outside the courtroom, where former president Donald Trump and his supporters continue to re-litigate whether the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack was as bad as prosecutors say it was. But the freewheeling questioning of government witnesses by the Proud Boys’ attorneys has also tied the defendants to conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 and exposed some of the far-right group’s ugliest rhetoric and beliefs.

One defense attorney began his opening remarks by thanking “the audience,” prompting an admonition from Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, to ignore spectators and focus on the jury.