A former Proud Boy whose testimony was used to convict several Proud Boys following the January 6th protest is now recanting his testimony and claiming he was threatened with decades in prison under the Biden Department of Justice.
According to a sworn video affidavit obtained by National File and provided to attorney Nayib Hassan, Jeremy Bertino claims that “federal agents and prosecutors engaged in a sustained campaign of disingenuous negotiation.” From National File:
Now that Joe Biden is no longer in charge of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, Bertino is coming clean.
Jeremy Bertino, in a sworn affidavit provided to attorney Nayib Hassan, affirmed that his prior statements used to convince the so-called “Seditious Five” were coerced under threat of decades in prison.
Federal agents and prosecutors engaged in a sustained campaign of disingenuous negotiation, characterized by a hide-the-ball style of negotiating in which they concealed the true nature of the final charges the DOJ would bring against Bertino, he says.
By making several much less severe proffers at first, federal prosecutors groomed and cajoled Bertino into a place where he had only two options: testify how they wanted him to, and go free – or tell the truth and face up to 25 years in prison.
The final charges the DOJ would slap on Bertino were not revealed until the prosecutors had sufficiently coached and groomed Bertino in order to elicit a particular testimony desired by the DOJ that would ultimately lead to conviction of Proud Boys for seditious conspiracy, Bertino says.
This act of bringing charges against someone without probable cause and with malice is known as malicious prosecution.
WATCH:
EXCLUSIVE BOMBSHELL VIDEO
Key DOJ Witness now says Biden FBI Threatened & Coerced him to secure Proud Boy convictions!
Watch Sworn Video Affidavit here.
Complete article and sworn affidavit below in pic.twitter.com/de685qC3Cc
— National File (@NationalFile) August 15, 2025
The five men whose convictions relied on Bertino’s testimony were Enrique Tarrio (22 years), Joe Biggs (17 years), Ethan Nordean (18 years), Zach Rehl (15 years) and Dom Pezzola (10 years). Enrique Tarrio was not present in D.C. on January 6th.
In a sworn video affidavit, Bertino recalls that masked SWAT agents knocked on his door, snatched his phone, and rushed him into the back of a black pickup truck. Bertino did not attend the protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, as he was recovering from a stabbing weeks earlier and still had 150 staples on the wound.
Following the feds serving a warrant for his electronic devices, Bertino retained counsel. His attorney set up a proffer meeting with the prosecutors, ensuring that whatever he said in the meeting could not be used against him.
According to Bertino’s recent video affidavit, the prosecutors presented the ‘1776 document’ and represented it as being written by Tarrio. He admits that later he found out Tarrio had no involvement in writing the document that was heavily relied upon to secure the seditious conspiracy convictions.
During the second proffer meeting, Bertino said that his attorney implied that “they want you to play ball or they’re going to try to charge you with something serious.”
Bertino said that the FBI agents had previously implied that he wasn’t going to be charged, however, that tone changed during the following proffer sessions. According to his video affidavit, the FBI agents began to turn the screws:
“So all along, they were playing it along like ‘we’re not gonna charge you. We just need you to help us frame the story this way.’ That’s when they put the pressure on and were like, ‘Hey, you’re either gonna play ball or you’re looking at 25 years.’
Using his attorney as a go-between, Bertino was told he can’t “outright lie” but that he was “gonna have to bend his statements” to “help frame this story the way it needs to be framed.”
He alleges that he was coached to use certain words during his testimony, for example, he was coached to use the term “goal” instead of “plan”.
Eventually he was flown to the DC prosecutors office to meet in person. During the meeting, he claims that “they had everybody there,” specifically naming Jocelyn Valentine and Jason McCullough, and called them “coaching sessions.”
During the sessions, the feds would send feedback such as “this was said, but this is not what we want, so we need to mold him to say it this way.”
BREAKING: Biden DOJ’s Star J6 Witness Recants
A key witness used by @JoeBiden’s DOJ to secure “seditious conspiracy” convictions against the Proud Boys has officially recanted.
Jeremy Bertino, once the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case, has now signed an affidavit revealing… pic.twitter.com/qUU8Xleur6
— LindellTV (@RealLindellTV) August 25, 2025
Bertino will be joining the Critical Mass podcast with Enrique Tarrio in an exclusive interview Wednesday at 7pm EDT. Tarrio posted to X:
This episode was extremely difficult for me to record. A brother turned state? Never thought it was possible. But this was necessary to get to the truth to get my Brothers exonerated.
ATTENTION
This episode was extremely difficult for me to record. A brother turned state? Never thought it was possible. But this was necessary to get to the truth to get my Brothers exonerated.
Please subscribe to my substack below to join.https://t.co/DfPtYl34BK https://t.co/KQMvIqeaNV
— Enrique Tarrio (@NobleOne) August 22, 2025
This isn’t the first time a J6 defendant has claimed they were coerced. The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Ryan Samsel felt he was being coerced to “play nice” and call Ray Epps the “voice of reason”:
Samsel claims that during a preliminary interview with the FBI, the agents seemed to try and coach him into saying that Epps was “the voice of reason.” Samsel told the Inside J6 Podcast that agents asked him, “this guy was the voice of reason, right?” Samsel said “I don’t know…I guess.” He claims they pressed him then on what he said to which Samsel responded “I guess he was the voice of reason…is that what you’re saying?” When they asked him for an official statement, Samsel said he needed a lawyer at that point.
Inside J6 Podcast: Incredible Interview with J6er Ryan Samsel – Media Corruption, Prison Abuse, and His Interactions with Ray Epps on Jan 6
The post Former Proud Boy Jeremy Bertino Claims He Was Coerced by DOJ to Testify Against Fellow Proud Boys in Sworn Affidavit appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.