Donald Trump pardoned the Proud Boys for invading the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Now they want compensation.
On Friday, a coalition of the far-right paramilitary group’s leaders filed to sue the federal government for $100 million—plus 6 percent in interest—claiming that, in light of their pardons, their arrest and various charges had actually violated their constitutional rights.
The group, composed of Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Dominic Pezzola, refer to themselves in the filing as “J6 defendants.” In it, they cite the “egregious and systemic abuse” of the legal system to punish Trump’s allies as the basis for their damages.
“Through the use of evidence tampering, witness intimidation, violations of attorney-client privilege, and placing spies to report on trial strategy, the government got its fondest wish of imprisoning the J6 Defendants, the modern equivalent of placing one’s enemies’ heads on a spike outside the town wall as a warning to any who would think to challenge the status quo,” claimed their attorneys.
“Now that the Plaintiffs are vindicated, free, and able to once again exercise their rights as American citizens, they bring this action against their tormentors for violations of their Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment Rights,” the filing continued.
The filing leveraged Trump’s own language to further argue their case, citing the president’s January 20 executive order in which he referred to their prosecution as a “grave national injustice” as means to seek damages.
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