THEIR MASTER'S VOICE (profanity alert):

In private messages, revealed Thursday by prosecutors at a seditious conspiracy trial stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of the group discussed Trump's Sept. 29 debate-stage exhortation to the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" ahead of the November election.

Some Proud Boy leaders, like Joe Biggs -- one of five seditious conspiracy defendants -- saw Trump's comment as a command to prepare to violently confront antifa.

"Trump basically said to go [****] them up," Biggs said on Parler, the social media platform popular with conservatives. "This makes me so happy." [...]

On Thursday, the 17th day of the trial, prosecutors gave their clearest explanation to jurors about the group's effort to tether itself to Trump's bid to remain in power, to weed out unruly members and to develop a tactical strategy for Jan. 6.

After Trump's projected defeat in the presidential election on Nov. 7, the group's concerns about its role grew even more acute.

"wtf happened? They called it. Now we have to mobilize," wrote North Carolina Proud Boys leader Jeremy Bertino in a message to Tarrio on Nov. 7.

Bertino told Tarrio about a plan to have a Proud Boys presence in Raleigh the next day, and Tarrio recommended that supporters not wear the group's typical black and yellow attire: "The campaign asked us to not wear colors to these events," Tarrio said, without elaborating on who he had spoken to. "Keep identifying colors to a minimum."

The group would go on to have a significant presence at a November pro-Trump march in Washington D.C. and a subsequent one on Dec. 12 that turned violent. Several Proud Boys were stabbed in street clashes with counterprotesters. Bertino suffered a severe wound that landed him in the hospital.

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