Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine announced Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit against far-right militia groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers to recover millions of dollars the city spent to defend the U.S. Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 riot.

What You Need To Know

  • The attorney general for Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit Tuesday against far-right militia groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers

  • Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine called the suit "the first civil lawsuit by a government entity against the Jan. 6 insurrectionists"

  • The lawsuit seeks to hold the groups accountable via the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was enacted after the Civil War to protect civil rights

  • A similar legal tactic was used in the civil lawsuit against white nationalist leaders and organizations over the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in a more than $25 million verdict

The suit, which Racine described as "the first civil lawsuit by a government entity against the Jan. 6 insurrectionists," alleges that the groups conspired "to terrorize the District."

“Over the course of several weeks, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, their leadership, and certain of their members and affiliates — motivated by a desire to overturn the legal results of the election and initiate a second term of Donald Trump’s presidency — worked together to plot, publicize, recruit for, and finance their planned attack,” the lawsuit reads. “The result of that planning, the January 6th Attack on the Capitol, was not a protest or a rally. It was a coordinated act of domestic terrorism.”

The lawsuit seeks to hold the groups accountable via the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was enacted after the Civil War to protect civil rights. Racine said the statute was established "to protect against vigilantes and insurrectionists" and "protect our country against violent conspiracies."

A similar legal tactic was used in the civil lawsuit against white nationalist leaders and organizations over the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which resulted in a more than $25 million verdict.

"They caused extensive damage to the District, our democracy and particularly the brave men and women of our Metropolitan Police Department," Racine wrote on Twitter.

"Today, we’re holding these insurrectionists accountable for conspiring to terrorize the District by planning, promoting, and participating in the deadly attack on the Capitol," Racine added. "I’m seeking damages in this case and will keep working to ensure such an assault never happens again."

Racine accused the leaders of the far-right militia groups of recruiting individuals, as well as conducting training exercises and providing tactical gear and weapons.

"Jan. 6 was, to say the least, a brazen, violent and deadly attack that traumatized this city, this community and our country," Racine said Tuesday. "We specifically allege that these vigilantes, insurrectionists and masters of a lawless mob conspired against the District of Columbia, its law enforcement officers and residents by planning, promoting and participating in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol."