Five leaders of the Proud Boys are suing the Department of Justice after the Biden administration found them guilty of engaging in a seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.
The lawsuit, filed by Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, seeks $100 million, and claims that federal authorities violated the Constitution in an effort "to punish and oppress political allies of President Donald Trump, by any and all means necessary, legal, or illegal," WaPo reports.
It comes on the heels of Trump's January pardon of virtually all Jan. 6 defendants - which could saddle the Trump administration with the ironic task of defending the prosecutions, which many on the right view as political weaponization of government.
Leftist academics (at least one) are freaking out over the suit, suggesting that it would vindicate Jan. 6 rioters in the court of public opinion.
"A settlement would suggest that the violence of January 6 was entirely justified," Matthew Dallek, a George Washington University political historian told WaPo. "It would say to the country that these Proud Boys who were convicted in a court of law, in a fair trial, were wrongfully prosecuted and victims. It just turns the entire day on its head."
Or, asshole, it would prove that the Biden administration weaponized the DOJ like everyone with a functional brain witnessed.
Tarrio, who wasn't even at the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to 22 years for 'plotting' to attack - while Nordean, Biggs and Rehl allegedly stepped into their leadership roles and led what prosecutors claimed was the first breach of the Capitol's west enterence.
Nordean, Biggs and Rehl received sentences of 18, 17, and 15-years respectively for seditious conspiracy, while Pezzola was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to obstruct Congress.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a May agreement to settle the wrongful death case brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol policeman (who got off scot-free) while she was involved in the demonstration.
