Sedition for Profit: The Proud Boys Want a Payday

Pardoned by a convicted felon, emboldened by a politicized DOJ, and now suing the U.S. for $100 million, the Proud Boys are trying to turn treason into a business model.

There’s gall, there’s shamelessness, and then there’s whatever we’re calling the Proud Boys’ $100 million lawsuit against the United States government.

Five men, convicted seditionists, not misunderstood patriots, have filed a federal complaint claiming the Justice Department violated their rights during their prosecution for leading the violent January 6 insurrection. You read that right: after storming the Capitol to overturn a democratic election, after being lawfully tried and sentenced, they’re now demanding damages.

The only thing more offensive than the filing is the possibility that they might win.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s mass pardons and commutations, some of these men are free. And now, they’re not just unrepentant, they’re emboldened. They’re claiming the FBI had it out for them because of their beliefs. They claim that documents were planted, their solitary confinement was unjust, and that someone spied on their legal communications. The same movement that spawned QAnon and “stop the steal” is rehashing these conspiracy theories.

Because let’s not be naive: if this lawsuit is successful, this money won’t go toward rehabilitation or reconciliation. It’ll go toward arming, organizing, and propagandizing for the next battle in Trump’s war against the republic. The coup didn’t work in 2021, but they’re not done trying.

And Trump? He’s not just enabling this. He’s incentivizing it.

The DOJ, now under Trump’s control, has already done a remarkable about-face by settling with the family of Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist shot while attempting to breach the Speaker’s Lobby. For years, the government rightly defended Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who was cleared by multiple investigations and found to have acted lawfully to protect members of Congress from the violent mob. But in May 2025, the Justice Department reversed course and agreed in principle to a $5 million settlement with Babbitt’s estate, nearly one-third of which is reportedly going to the family’s legal team, which includes the far-right group Judicial Watch. The message couldn’t be clearer: under Trump, the insurrectionists are the victims, and law enforcement is being told to think twice before defending democracy. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger called the decision “chilling,” warning it would endanger officers across the country. He’s right. This wasn’t just a quiet payout, it was a political payment plan, designed to rewrite the story of January 6 and reward the foot soldiers of authoritarianism.

This is what authoritarianism looks like in a suit and tie. The Justice Department no longer protects democracy, it protects those who attack it. The seditionists are treated as victims. The government that prosecuted them is being painted as the criminal. And if the Proud Boys get a single dollar from this grotesque attempt at legal gaslighting, it will mark not just a betrayal of justice, but a rewriting of American history in real time.

If this were a movie script, no studio would greenlight it. Too implausible, too surreal. A twice-impeached, convicted felon returns to power, pardons the men who helped him try to seize it by force, and then those same men sue the government for having dared to stop them, and might win.

Somewhere, Trump is probably demanding a cut of the judgment. Maybe he’ll bill them for “brand development.” Or maybe he sees this lawsuit for what it is: a test case. If the Proud Boys can sue for “emotional distress,” why not Oath Keepers next? Or Steve Bannon? Or Trump himself?

The unthinkable is becoming normalized. And the courts, our last, fragile defense, are now being conscripted into the plot.

Read the story in the WSJ here