Here are some of the Jan. 6 rioters demanding $18.4 million from U.S. taxpayers

Multiple Proud Boys members, convicted cop beaters, and press bashers joined the class action lawsuit seeking Jan. 6-related compensation.

Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola uses a stolen police shield to smash his way through a U.S. Capitol window.

The pro-Trump mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th attempted to subvert a free and fair election, injured more than 100 police officers, wrought an nearly $3 million in property damage, and forever stained the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.

Now, some of their violent participants have filed a class action lawsuit to collect at least $18.4 million — split among just 46 of the class members — for their troubles in federal court. That bounty could spike higher if Trump’s Justice Department decides to compensate the “hundreds or potentially thousands” of others said to be covered by the class action lawsuit.

The rioters listed in the lawsuit include members of the Proud Boys extremist group, convicted cop assailants and press-bashers who attacked reporters documenting the insurrection and their equipment.

But their lawsuit depicts the rioters as the victims of “excessive force” by police.

‘We’re gonna charge that motherf***er’

Although the lawsuit complained about police using batons, pepper spray, and other crowd control measures to keep the rioters from invading the Capitol, some of the pro-Trump insurrectionists seeking to collect a big civil judgment pleaded guilty to assaulting police, often with the same weapons.

Proud Boys leaders Dominic Pezzola and Christopher Worrell both appeared on the list in the class action. Pezzola used a stolen police shield to break a window that allowed rioters to flood into the Capitol, a crime captured in one of the most infamous photographs of the siege. Worrell was convicted of pepper spraying a full line of officers, among other crimes.

Like Pezzola, Troy Elbert Faulkner breached the Capitol building by helping to kick and shatter one of the windows.

Kentucky rioter Luke Hoffman pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with chemical spray and attacking multiple officers with a wooden flagpole inside the Capitol tunnel.

Georgia man Phillip M. Crawford Jr. admitted to felony charges related to his throwing a gas mask at a police officer and goading them by saying: “Hey! We’re going to charge in that motherf***er! Ok?! Are ya’ll pussies or what?! Look at them, 1, 2, 3, 4. You ain’t got s*** on us. We’re all of us, come on!”

Oklahoma man Benjamen Burlew was caught on tape assaulting a photographer for the Associated Press, ultimately acknowledging that he committed that crime.

QAnon adherent Michael Oliveras boasted on video about fellow rioters ransacking the recording equipment of reporters, saying: “That’s what happens when the f***ing fake news shows up at a Patriot rally.”

Those are just a snapshot of the 46 people who have filed Federal Tort Claims Act forms to the Capitol Police, setting the stage for today’s lawsuit. The compensation requested in those forms alone add up to more than $18.4 million, but the complaint seeks a far larger (and unspecified) payday for the “hundreds or potentially thousands” of putative class members who are not named. Nearly 1,600 rioters were on the docket when Trump pardoned or commuted them all, including more than 600 convicted of assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

‘Work out a settlement with myself’

Throughout his second term, Trump has sought to enrich himself and his associates for alleged civil rights violations associated with their criminal investigations and prosecutions, even for crimes that ended in a guilty plea.

Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty multiple times to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, recently reached a $1.2 million settlement over his prosecution during the Mueller investigation. Despite now calling himself a victim of wrongful prosecution, Flynn signed a sworn statement at the time admitting to that crime and also acknowledging that he lied on Foreign Agents Registration Act forms about the Turkish government’s ties to his firm’s $530,000 lobbying campaign.

Trump has filed claims of his own seeking more than $10 billion in damages for the disclosure of his tax records. He also sought hundreds of millions in connection with Mueller’s investigation, even though Trump falsely claimed that it ended in his “EXONERATION.” In fact, Mueller concluded that Trump engaged in conduct that satisfied every prong of at least four counts of obstruction of justice, but Mueller didn’t issue a formal prosecutorial recommendation because of internal Justice Department rules forbidding the prosecution of a sitting president.

Earlier this year, Trump openly admitted to reporters on Air Force One: “I'm supposed to work out a settlement with myself,” claiming that “no one would care” because the money would purportedly go to his handpicked charities. (Trump’s former charitable foundation was shuttered during his first term in an anti-fraud enforcement action.)

Since the Jan. 6 rioters filed their claims against the U.S. government, Trump’s Justice Department will decide how or whether to defend the case. Trump has validated the rioters’ claims of victimhood, leading many to expect another taxpayer payday for his insurrectionist supporters.

If a settlement is reached, legal experts believe there may be little any U.S. district judge can do to stop it.

“Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e), the district court is required to approve the settlement of any class action before it can take effect,” former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner told All Rise News. “The criteria that the district court judge is required to utilize focus on the fairness of the settlement to class members (almost always plaintiffs). There is no requirement that the court consider fairness to the individual defendant, who is represented by counsel that should be acting to protect the individual defendant’s interests.”

Late last month, Democratic members of the House and Senate proposed legislation that would ban any Jan. 6 rioters from receiving taxpayer money.

Read the lawsuit in full here.