Donohoe’s testimony will also be a major boon to federal prosecutors trying to shore up their evidence in one of the high-profile cases stemming from the Capitol riot. Court documents filed in the case so far reveal that prosecutors planned to rely heavily on group chats between the alleged conspirators in the weeks running up to the riot, as well as video evidence from the day itself.
“From the prosecutors’ point of view, they have a witness who is likely to be quite credible, who can put the pieces together in a way that is much more compelling than if they were just dealing with communications,” said Bruce Green, a former federal prosecutor and now director of Fordham Law School’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics.
Court documents filed last week tout Donohoe as a well-positioned witness who was privy to the inner workings of the gang for years. “As a member of the Proud Boys since 2018 and an attendee at prior national rallies attended by the Proud Boys, Donohoe knew and understood that some members of the Proud Boys—known internally as the “rally” boys—would resort to unlawful conduct to achieve an objective,” prosecutors wrote.
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