Joe Biggs

Joseph Randall Biggs (born 1984 (age 37)) is an American veteran, media personality, organizer of the Proud Boys, and convicted felon for his participation in the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

After serving in the United States Army and suffering a traumatic brain injury, Biggs began working for various conservative media organizations, including InfoWars and Censored.TV.

As a leader for the far-right Proud Boys group, he organized and promoted the End Domestic Terrorism rally; was found jointly culpable for an over-$1 million judgment for trespass and vandalism at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church; and helped lead the organization's destructive efforts in the attack on the United States Capitol.

For the last of these, in 2023, he was found guilty on six criminal counts (including seditious conspiracy), and sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.

Joseph Randall Biggs was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1984 (age 37).

, he lived in Ormond Beach, Florida, and upon his 2023 trial, had at least one daughter.

In 2007, he was stationed at Fort Bragg when arrested for domestic violence.

Biggs claimed his separation from the Army was a medical retirement after eight years enlisted.

In the 2010s, Biggs was arrested in Austin, Texas for assaulting a peace officer while drunk, but a grand jury did not return an indictment.

On social media, Biggs has repeatedly posted homophobic and misogynistic content since at least spring 2012; his Twitter and Facebook accounts were suspended for posting threatening messages.

Biggs is a United States Army combat veteran.

He suffered a traumatic brain injury during a deployment to Iraq, for which he received a Purple Heart.

As reported by Salon, Michael Hastings' book The Operators corroborates Biggs' service in Afghanistan as well as the sergeant's involvement "in a gruesome suicide-bombing incident".

He also worked as a correspondent for InfoWars, where he covered the Oath Keepers' actions at the 2015 Ferguson unrest, the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, conspiracy theories about the 2015 San Bernardino attack, and the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

In January 2017, Biggs posted online that he had been hired by Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN; "the unofficial version of Trump TV") to make a program focusing on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution; RSBN refuted that in April, saying they were merely speaking with Biggs and "are anything but racist or sexist here."

In August 2017, Biggs was a speaker at the Boston Free Speech Rally, and by 2019, was the host of a right-wing talk radio show.

By 2019, Joseph Biggs was an organizer of the Proud Boys, a neofascist "far-right, all-male group of self-described 'Western chauvinists which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a hate group.

Biggs was an organizer and the main promoter of August 2019's End Domestic Terrorism rally in Portland, Oregon.

In the wake of that event, in response to Biggs' threat to return with the Proud Boys on a monthly basis, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler chastized Biggs "for frightening Portlanders with the prospect of violence in the streets", and told the Floridian he was not welcome in Portland.

Biggs' lawyer—J.

In September 2020, Biggs was employed by Censored.TV, though his show had been removed by late January 2021.

Daniel Hull—alleged that in late July 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation approached his client and enlisted his assistance collecting on-the-ground intelligence about antifa activists.

At the September 29, 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, when pressured to condemn the Proud Boys as a white supremacy group, the president said, "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by".

The next day, Biggs filed a police report with the Volusia County sheriff's office, alleging receipt of threatening phone calls and social-media messages, and requesting police protection.

His identity in connection with the report was obfuscated under Marsy's Law.

On December 12, 2020, Proud Boys trespassed the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., destroyed church property, and then celebrated the same.

The church filed a lawsuit for compensatory damages against the Proud Boys' limited liability corporation, and specifically named Biggs, Jeremy Bertino, Enrique Tarrio, and John Turano.

On June 30, 2023, Judge Neal E. Kravitz of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia issued a default judgment against the defendants for over one million dollars.

In 2021, prior to the January 6 United States Capitol attack that delayed the certification of Joe Biden's presidential-election win, Biggs exhorted for Proud Boys to "turn out in record numbers [...] We will be blending in as one of you ... We are going to smell like you, move like you, and look like you. The only thing we'll do that's us is think like us!"

On January 5, via encrypted social media channels, he communicated with other members: "trying to get our numbers. So we can plan accordingly for tonight and go over tomorrow's plan. [...] info should be coming out [...] we have a plan".

Outside the Capitol Building, Biggs spoke privately with Ryan Samsel, who immediately thereafter was the first person to breach the security perimeter.

Biggs was one of the first to breach the building itself at about 2:13p.m., 20 seconds behind Dominic Pezzola, who smashed a Senate window with a riot shield; he was identified by the FBI via photos and videos taken there.

Biggs and other Proud Boys were wearing walkie-talkies to allow real-time communication, and Biggs was recorded on video saying of the breach, "This is awesome!"

He later left the building, but returned 30 minutes later alongside some Oath Keepers, pushing their way past a law enforcement officer.

On January 18, Biggs admitted to the FBI that he entered the building, but claimed he neither forced his way in, nor knew about the plan to do so.

On the morning of January 20, 2021, he was arrested in Florida, charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority; obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding; and willfully and knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct to impede a session of Congress.

In Orlando court, Biggs did not enter a plea; magistrate judge Embry Kidd released him to home detention with an unsecured bond of US$25000 2021, pending his trial in Washington, D.C.

Biggs and three other Proud Boys leaders (Charles Donohoe, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl) were indicted (United States of America v. Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Charles Donohoe) on March 10, 2021, charged with planning and executing the Capitol attack.

On March 20, and based on these new charges, federal prosecutors requested Biggs return to pre-trial detention.

Hull attempted to leverage Biggs' alleged prior cooperation with the FBI to keep his client out on bail.