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Trump pardons Proud Boys - Proud Boys sue the United States [1]

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Date: 2025-06-07

First the government gave Ashli Babbitt's family $5 million, rewarding Babbitt for having tried to break into the House of Representatives and being killed by Capitol Police.

Trump pardoned 1,500 Jan.6th criminals. Some of them have committed new crimes, tried to use their pardon as an excuse, and found out it didn't work. Others are taking a different tact.

Five Proud Boys, including the leader, Enrique Tarrio, are now suing the US government for unspecified compensation damages plus 6% interest, from when is unknown, and $100 million each, yes each, with interest, according to The Guardian, in punative damages. Other reports say just $100 million total.

They claim that their constitutional rights were violated by being prosecuted for their actions on January 6th. A whole new can of worms is being opened up. Not only getting pardons, but being rewarded for being criminals. But, Trump brought this on himself, and actually is happy about it. He did talk to Tarrio at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month.

Trump got away with the $5 million to Ashli Babbitt family. The Capitol Police Chief was not happy about it. It was just a blip in the news cycle and swept under the rug. But many are going to be upset if the Trump administration simply negotiates with January 6th criminals and give them taxpayer money.

Trump himself has recently endorsed potential payments to the Jan. 6 defendants he pardoned, saying his administration was considering a compensation fund, the New York Times reported in March.

If this case is allowed proceed, there could be hundreds of suits brought. If the Proud Boys win, everybody can win.

The lawsuit was filed in a Florida federal court on Friday. The complaint reads:

"What follows is a parade of horribles: egregious and systematic abuse of the legal system and the United States Constitution to punish and oppress political allies of president Trump, by any and all means necessary, legal, or illegal."

According to the Wall Street Journal, the plaintiffs claim the government lacked probable cause to raid their homes after they turned themselves in, and that FBI employees read privileged communications with their lawyers. More of the complaint:

"Through the use of evidence tampering, witness intimidation, violations of attorney-client privilege, and placing spies to report on trial strategy, the government got it's fondest wish of imprisoning [January 6] defendants, the modern equivalent of placing ones enemies' heads on a spike outside of a town wall as a warning to anyone who would think to challenge the status quo."

The absolute chutzpah of making such a claim for irredeemable criminals. Truly the epitome of "give them an inch and they'll take a mile."

It is annoying that news sources are quoting from the complaint, which they know is 28 pages long, and I found it, case # 6:2025cv00998, but to get a copy of it, you have to have a paid PACER account. U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Civil rights violation of 28 U.S.C. ยง 1331. Which is a federal question: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States." The name of the case is "Tarrio et al v. United States of America et al." All I can tell you is that it is not in Judge Aileen Cannon's Southern District of Florida. Which is part of why I was searching to find the actual complaint.

"There was hostages in this country," Tarrio said in a news conference on Friday. "It's not about any other country today, and that's why this lawsuit is so important to bring back law and order into our system."

I am not prone to violence, but I would have liked to have all 140 Capitol Policemen, who were injured on January 6th, stand in a line and each one get to punch Tarrio in the face.

The lawsuit claims the men were arrested with insufficient probable cause and that government agents later "found" incriminating evidence. They also claim they were held for years in pre-trial detention, often in solitary confinement.

The five in the lawsuit are Enrique Tarrio, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola.

In an interview with USA Today in February, Rehl said was thinking about running for public office. "I am an intelligent individual, and I've done a lot in the community as far as activism is concerned. So, I'm experienced in that respect, and I really believe that I can represent the people in a good way."

Tarrio is such an upstanding citizen that he was arrested in Washington, D.C., less than a month after his release, for allegedly assaulting a woman was protesting a gathering of the Proud Boys who had gotten pardons. Strangely enough, DC prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against Tarrio. The get out of jail free card for those pardoned by Trump seems to be continuing in some cases while not in others.

Tarrio had been sentenced to 22 years, Nordean 18 years, Biggs to 17 years. All five were convicted by a jury of their peers. To have that work invalidated by Trump's pardon is still another crime. Trump talking about a compensation fund for all the criminals is also a crime. The possibility of Tarrio and the others winning their case with the current DOJ and FBI environment is an insult to the American people. Trump may make a settlement, another crime, to keep the case out of the news. But these smug bastards might just ignore a settlement and go for the huge amount because they can.

They are being represented by Thomas F. Ranieri, who has a lawfirm in Virginia, and Augustus Invictus.

Invictus has a sordid past. He was the headline speaker at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended in three deaths, and he was finally convicted in October of last year of a felony charge of burning an object with the intent to intimidate, at the torch lit march at the University of Virginia. Yes, the rally where Trump said there were fine people on both sides. Invictus was sentenced to five years, most of it suspended, and he was supposed to serve 9 months and two weeks with 2 years supervised probabation. I double checked. There is only one Augustus Sol Invictus. How is he representing Tarrio? He should be in jail. The PacerMonitor lists him. It's not a mistake. How is this possible? This is a big story in itself. I can't take it any farther at the moment.

The filing by Tarrio and the four others is an assault on the rule of law. At any other time before 2025, I would have laughed and said they would be liable for court charges and contempt. But we are living in 2025. Donald Trump is president. The three tiered justice system of one for the poor, one for the rich, and one for Donald Trump, just gained a fourth tier. One for January 6th criminals.

This cannot be allowed to happen.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/7/2326502/-Trump-pardons-Proud-Boys-Proud-Boys-sue-the-government?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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