A team of lawyers is preparing to sue the federal government on behalf of hundreds of people pardoned by President Trump for their role in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, claiming that the rioters were mistreated by agencies like the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons.
The lawyers leading the effort include Mark McCloskey, who rose to prominence five years ago after he pointed an AR-15-style rifle at social justice protesters outside his home in St. Louis, and Peter Ticktin, a former classmate and longtime ally of Mr. Trump.
Even before Mr. Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people prosecuted in connection with Jan. 6, many defendants had been itching to seek damages from the federal government. The president’s sweeping reprieves have only emboldened them in their efforts to claim they are the victims, not the perpetrators, of the attack.
Any attempt to sue the federal government over Jan. 6 could face an uphill climb in court, although in this instance the lawyers could be aided by the government itself.
It remains unclear at this point how Justice Department officials appointed by Mr. Trump might handle a case claiming that federal prosecutors, F.B.I. agents and prison guards mistreated Jan. 6 defendants. The department could decide not to mount a robust defense and simply seek to settle any claims before they go to trial.
A handful of rioters — including one with ties to the Proud Boys and another with connections to the Oath Keepers militia — have already filed suit against federal officials and local law enforcement agencies in Washington. But those cases have not gained much traction in the courts.
Mr. McCloskey and Mr. Ticktin said they were planning a broader effort to go after the government based on allegations that the pardoned rioters were deprived of their constitutional rights in how they were arrested, prosecuted and ultimately punished for Jan. 6. The suits, they said, could also be filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows individuals to sue the government for injuries caused by federal employees.
The lawyers said that their plans were still in the formative stages, but that a suit or suits could be filed within a month.
“The fact that a lawsuit or lawsuits will be brought is as certain as the sun rising in the east,” Mr. McCloskey said. “The exact form of that sunrise has yet to be determined.”
For now, the lawyers are planning to start a website where pardoned rioters can sign up to join the legal effort. They are being assisted by a nonprofit called Condemned USA, which has long supported Jan. 6 defendants and was founded by a pardoned rioter named Treniss Evans.
Mr. McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, were pardoned themselves by the governor of Missouri in 2021 after they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from the confrontation with protesters at their home.
During Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign, the couple spoke at the Republican National Convention, where Ms. McCloskey warned the audience that “no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America.”
Mr. Ticktin, who has known Mr. Trump since they were teenagers, helped to file a lawsuit on his behalf in Florida three years ago against nearly three dozen of the president’s perceived political enemies, including Hillary Clinton and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey.
A federal judge ultimately deemed that suit to be frivolous and ordered Mr. Trump and another lawyer who worked on the case, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $1 million in sanctions.
The plan by Mr. McCloskey and Mr. Ticktin to sue the government over Jan. 6 comes after the Justice Department has already taken punitive measures against several prosecutors who played a role in Capitol riot cases.
In late January, the department fired more than a dozen young prosecutors hired by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington to work on the cases. Last week, Ed Martin, the acting leader of that office, demoted a separate group of more senior prosecutors, including one who led the entire Jan. 6 investigation and two who oversaw the seditious conspiracy trials of members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
Under Mr. Trump’s leadership, the Justice Department has already said it was in discussions to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the government during the Biden administration by the family of the slain Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt.
Ms. Babbitt was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer while she was trying to breach the House floor through the Speaker’s Lobby.
