Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes added to Jan. 6 lawsuit

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) has added Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and five others as defendants to a lawsuit over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“The District, our democracy, and the brave law enforcement officers who risked their lives on Jan 6 deserve justice,” Racine tweeted Friday. “By prosecuting to the fullest, we hope to prevent an attack like this from ever happening again.”

Racine’s office originally filed the lawsuit in December, seeking to hold individuals and organizations accountable for violence on Jan. 6 and naming far-right groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys as defendants.

In adding defendants on Friday, Racine tweeted, “We’re committed to bankrupting the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who conspired in the attack.”

Along with Rhodes, who has pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy, Matthew Greene, a Proud Boys member who pleaded guilty in December to two charges connected to Jan. 6, was also added to the list.

The D.C. attorney general’s office additionally added Edward Vallejo, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Brian Ulrich as defendants.

The Hill has reached out to attorneys for the defendants for comment. Scott Weinberg, who represents Moerschel on criminal charges of seditious conspiracy, told The Hill the addition of Moerschel’s name to the list of defendants in the civil case is “a bit of overkill.”

The lawsuit, modeled after the Charlottesville lawsuit that won $26 million against more than a dozen white supremacists and hate groups, seeks unspecified monetary damages from the defendants. However, its goal is to secure “restitution and recompense” for the injuries inflicted in the attack.

Rhodes is currently being held in jail awaiting his trial on seditious conspiracy charges.

Updated: 1:57 p.m.