Stewart Rhodes And Five Other Members Of Oath Keepers And Proud Boys Added To D.C. Lawsuit Over Jan. 6 Attack

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Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, four other members of the extremist group and a member of the Proud Boys have been added to a civil lawsuit filed by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine against the groups and their leaders to recoup damage the government alleges they caused in the January 6 insurrection, Racine said in a press release Friday.

Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Key Facts

The six new defendants are: Rhodes, who was criminally charged with seditious conspiracy in January and has pleaded not guilty; Oath Keepers members—Edward Vallejo, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Brian Ulrich; and Matthew Greene, the first member of the Proud Boys to plead guilty to charges related to the Jan. 6 attack, according to the amended lawsuit.

Racine’s lawsuit, which he says was the first filed by a government entity seeking to hold individuals and groups responsible for the insurrection, initially targeted 31 people involved with Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, the press release said.

Racine has called the members of the extremist groups “vigilantes, insurrectionists and masters of a lawless mob,” that carried out the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Key Background

Racine filed the initial lawsuit on December 14 under federal and local laws, including what the Washington Post described as the modern version of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which aims to protect against violent conspiracies that threaten democracy. Among those named in the original lawsuit is Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was indicted earlier in the month for conspiracy relating to the January 6 attack. He was not present during the riot, but prosecutors said Tarrio issued orders to members of the militant group to storm the Capitol, which he later took credit for on social media. Racine’s lawsuit seeks damages caused by the riot, including medical costs for injured D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, and to expose how the groups are financed.

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