A $100 million lawsuit brought against the Justice Department by five Proud Boys leaders convicted over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack faces steep legal odds, but its political cost could be significant.

The Proud Boys claim the government violated their constitutional rights in its prosecution of their efforts to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the riot.

It places the Trump administration in an awkward position: defend the sweeping Jan. 6 prosecution or potentially pay out millions to the right-wing leaders convicted of spearheading the attack.

“I would be shocked if there was any fulsome opposition put forth by the government here,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

The five Proud Boys — Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl, Joe Biggs and Dominic Pezzola — filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court in Florida over their "political prosecution,” which they described as an “egregious and systemic abuse” of the legal system aimed at Trump’s political allies.

After a months-long trial in 2023, four of the men were found guilty of seditious conspiracy; Pezzola was acquitted of that charge but convicted of other serious felonies. Their sentences were among the highest handed down in connection........

© The Hill