In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean, left, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump. Four men described by prosecutors as leaders of the far-right Proud Boys have been indicted on charges that they planned and carried out a coordinated attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory. Nordean and Joseph Biggs, two of the four defendants charged in the latest indictment, were arrested several weeks ago on separate but related charges. The new indictment also charges Rehl and Charles Donohoe.
D.C.’s attorney general is suing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over Capitol attack
"Our own citizens were hellbent on destroying the freedoms and ideals on which our country was founded and continues to aspire to achieve."
By Ryan Lucas/NPR
Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo
In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean, left, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump. Four men described by prosecutors as leaders of the far-right Proud Boys have been indicted on charges that they planned and carried out a coordinated attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory. Nordean and Joseph Biggs, two of the four defendants charged in the latest indictment, were arrested several weeks ago on separate but related charges. The new indictment also charges Rehl and Charles Donohoe.
(Washington) – The District of Columbia is suing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for allegedly conspiring to terrorize the city with the violent attack on Jan. 6 on the U.S. Capitol.
The civil lawsuit was filed by the District’s attorney general, Karl Racine, in federal court in Washington, D.C. It accuses the two far-right groups, their leaders and certain associates of coordinating and plotting violence on Jan. 6 to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.
“In the complaint, we specifically allege that these vigilantes, insurrectionists and masters of a lawless mob conspired against the District of Columbia, its law enforcement officers and residents by planning, promoting and participating in the violent attack on the United States Capitol,” Racine told reporters on Tuesday.
“Our own citizens were hellbent on destroying the freedoms and ideals on which our country was founded and continues to aspire to achieve,” he added.
Racine called Jan. 6 a “brazen, violent and deadly attack that traumatized this city, this community, and our country.”
Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo
In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, Proud Boy members Joseph Biggs, left, and Ethan Nordean, right with megaphone, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers make up a fraction of the more than 300 Trump supporters charged so far in the siege that led to Trump’s second impeachment and resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer. But several of their leaders, members and associates have become the central targets of the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation.
The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers already are facing civil lawsuits stemming from the events of Jan. 6 — one filed by members of Congress, another by police officers. Like in those cases, the groups are accused in the District’s civil suit of violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a law that was passed after the Civil War to try to protect Black citizens from violence and intimidation.
In addition to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, the latest lawsuit names the group’s leaders — Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, respectively — as defendants, as well as several suspected members of the two organizations who are facing criminal charges in connection with Jan. 6.
The complaint says that after former President Donald Trump’s election loss, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers began working together “to plot, publicize, recruit for, and finance their planned attack.”
The complaint says that planning and coordination came together on Jan. 6 when the defendants and other rioters bashed their way through police lines and forced their way into the Capitol.
In doing so, the lawsuit says, the rioters threatened and assaulted D.C. police officers and those inside the Capitol.
“In the wake of this assault, the Capitol was left in shambles, with the District left to deal with the aftermath of the violent disruption to what should have been the peaceful transition of presidential power,” the suit says.
The District is seeking punitive and compensatory damages to be determined at trial.
