The first Proud Boy to take the stand in the seditious conspiracy trial against five fellow members of the far-right group told the jury Tuesday how leaders of the organization celebrated when their members acted violently, and how that informed the way the group fought together during the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Matthew Greene, from Syracuse, New York, testified after pleading guilty in December 2021.
“What I believe was that when people acted in violence people did not back down, did not say you were going too far,” Greene said of Proud Boys leadership. “If anything, it was celebrated.”
“There was a mantra that was told to me,” he added, “we don’t start s**t, we finish it.”
Greene was never in contact with the leaders of the Proud Boys, prosecutors say, and did not know of an explicit plan to storm the building. But prosecutors allege he, along with defendant…
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