A MAN pleaded guilty on Thursday to plotting to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 US election, making him the first member of the far-right Proud Boys to admit a seditious conspiracy charge.

Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, has agreed to co-operate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the role that Proud Boys leaders played in the mob’s attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor said.

Mr Bertino’s co-operation could ratchet up the pressure on other Proud Boys charged in the siege, including former national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.