By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The sentencing hearings for two former leaders of the right-wing Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters has been postponed, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in a statement said the sentencing hearings will not proceed “due to an emergency.”
“When we get more information, we will share it,” she added.
Prosecutors were planning to ask U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to sentence Enrique Tarrio, the group’s former chairman, to 33 years in prison and to sentence his co-defendant Ethan Nordean, another former leader, to 27 years.
Those recommendations exceed the longest sentence handed out so far over the assault by the former president’s supporters on the seat of government, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced in May to serve 18 years.
The attack was meant to stop Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s election, which Trump falsely claims was the result of widespread fraud.
Trump currently holds a wide lead in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in 2024.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Mark Porter)
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