With the example of the lawsuit that resulted in a $26 million settlement against the neo-Nazi rioters in Charlottesville in 2017, the District of Columbia's attorney general Karl Racine announced that D.C. is suing the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other militant white supremacist / pro-Trump militia groups for their roles in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. Using an 1871 law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan's violence across the south that was the basis for the Charlottesville suit, Racine filed the civil lawsuit in Federal court to hold those organizations financially responsible for the damages incurred by D.C. :
"Racine’s suit names as defendants Proud Boys International LLC, Oath Keepers and dozens of their most high-profile members — mostly individuals who are charged in federal court with committing crimes related to Jan. 6. The goal is to unravel the financing behind the groups and secure 'full restitution and recompense' for the city of Washington, which has incurred huge costs for treating hundreds of injured officers.
'I think the damages are substantial,' Racine said in an interview. 'If it so happens that it bankrupts or puts these individuals and entities in financial peril, so be it.'” (our emphasis)
The Justice Department has filed separate conspiracy charges against several members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, but not against the organizations themselves at this stage. Racine's office is being assisted in the lawsuit by the Anti-Defamation League and the States United Democracy Center, a bipartisan group. The D.C. prosecutors have a rich trove of cell-phone traffic, emails and Facebook entries to base their case for financial damages from the Justice Department's prosecutions.
Let's hope they succeed in taking these domestic terrorists down. The FBI has arrested over 600 rioters, among them members of those violent groups. You can do your part by going to the FBI's website and seeing if you recognize anyone that engaged in the January 6 insurrection.
(photo: "Proud Boys" Joseph Biggs, left, and Jason Nordean on way to Capitol. Both have been charged with multiple counts. Carolyn Kaster / AP)
