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Proud Boy charged in Capitol siege says he helped FBI for years, gave information on Antifa

An attorney for Proud Boys member Joseph Biggs, under court-ordered home detention Florida, made the claims Monday in a court filing.

Published: March 30, 2021 4:24pm

Updated: March 30, 2021 6:57pm

A Proud Boys member who was charged in connection with the Jan. 6 breach on the U.S. Capitol said that he has worked for years with the FBI, meeting and speaking with agents to provide information on Antifa.

An attorney for Joseph Biggs, who has been under court-ordered home detention in north Florida in connection with the breach, made the claims Monday in a court filing.

Biggs began his informal FBI conversations years ago while planning anti-Antifa demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, attorney John Daniel Hull wrote in the filing.

"As part of the planning, Biggs would regularly speak  by phone and in person to both local and federal law enforcement personnel stationed in Portland, including the FBI’s Portland Field Office," Hull wrote. "These talks were intended both to inform law enforcement about Proud Boy activities in Portland on a courtesy basis but also to ask for advice on planned marches or demonstrations, i.e., what march routes to take on Portland streets, where to go, where not to go."

Additionally, Biggs had similar conversations with FBI and police in other cities, wrote the lawyer, who noted various years for when the contacts took place.

"The FBI has no comment," spokesperson Carol Cratty said when contacted by Just the News.

Biggs was outspoken on social media and radio about his activities and beliefs, Hull also said.

"By late 2018, Biggs also started to get 'cautionary' phone calls from FBI agents located in (Florida's) Jacksonville and Daytona Beach inquiring about what Biggs meant by something politically or culturally provocative he had said on the air or on social media concerning a national issue, political parties, the Proud Boys, Antifa or other groups," the filing reads. "Biggs regularly satisfied FBI personnel with his answers."

The FBI directly sought information from Biggs, according to the attorney.

"In late July 2020, an FBI Special Agent out of the Daytona Beach area telephoned Biggs and asked Biggs to meet with him and another FBI agent at a local restaurant," the attorney wrote. "Biggs agreed. Biggs learned after he travelled to the restaurant that the purpose of the meeting was to determine if Biggs could share information about Antifa networks operating in Florida and elsewhere. They wanted to know what Biggs was 'seeing on the ground.' Biggs did have information about Antifa in Florida and Antifa networks in other parts of the United States. He agreed to share the information."

That meeting lasted for about three hours, after which Biggs and the original agent remained in touch, according to the lawyer. Over the ensuing few weeks, Biggs answered followup questions from the agents.

"They spoke often," Hull wrote.

Around Jan. 16, Biggs contacted the Daytona Beach agent to report that he was involved in the Jan. 6 breach. A few days later, that agent and another drove Biggs to Orlando to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in connection with the charges against him. The Proud Boy member was released on home detention and with a number of restrictions. 

The government subsequently moved to revoke the home detention. The claims in the March 29 court filing were part of an effort to oppose the government's motion to revoke Biggs' pretrial release.

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